


Free-Falling

by djmarinizela



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Chick-Flick Moments, ChickLit, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Modern AU, PhD life, Scientist Hange Zoë, Skydiving, Skydiving AU, Stargazing, Tea Shop Owner Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), fem!Hange, female hange, levihan - Freeform, modern levihan AU, romcom, small business owner Levi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:47:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27434566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/djmarinizela/pseuds/djmarinizela
Summary: Skydiver and tea shop owner Levi Ackerman meets the town’s resident mad scientist and tries to convince himself that he's not falling for her.
Relationships: Levi & Hange Zoë, Levi/Hange Zoë, Mikasa Ackerman/Eren Yeager, Nanaba/Mike Zacharias
Comments: 74
Kudos: 222





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hange smiles at him, hand resting on her cheek, brown eyes wide and full of light. “I like your tea shop.”
> 
> “Yeah, I can tell.”
> 
> \---
> 
> Thank you to my beta-reader, @iamsueshii, for proofreading the story!

Levi Ackerman dislikes mess. Actually, dislike is an understatement — hate, detest, loathe, or abhor is probably better. He avoids mess like the plague, disdains those who dwell in disorder when he and chaos cannot be within a one-mile radius of each other. That is if he can help it, or else he'll explode. The mentality translates to people, too: Levi cannot deal with those who cannot keep their shit together for more than five minutes. Which, in one way or another, probably says a lot about himself. 

The mess, however, seems to have an affinity for him, wherever he is. 

And so the first thing he notices is the unkempt hair, clean freak as he is and unable to bear anything that hasn’t been washed in days. The second is the quirkiness; the woman laughs out loud like a lunatic, head tipping back in glee, the sound of her voice enough to cure all the aching in the world. She’s seated in a corner, tucked away from the rest of the customers but visible to anyone who stands behind the counter. 

The tea shop is giving off a very quaint atmosphere with its gray walls and white space, allowing anyone the luxury of solace — or in this person’s case, a state of derangement. She sips her drink and composes herself for a moment before her hands type something into the laptop. Then seconds later, she guffaws once again as if she’s read the funniest thing ever. And once in a while, people would look over their shoulder to find the contagious source of laughter, only to end up smiling to themselves.

“Oi, Eren,” he calls for his assistant without removing his eyesight from the peculiar stranger, “How does one get fucking high from tea?”

“What do you mean by ‘high’?”

They both hear that manic laughter in the background once more.

“That kind.”

In a split-second, the boy grasps the context of the question just by following the heated gaze of his boss. “Ah, her? She's been here thrice this week and she's already tried almost everything on the menu.” He pauses from stacking up the paper cups. “Looks like she can be a patron.”

“Or a complete psycho.”

“Can’t see why she cannot be both,” Eren says, flipping his long hair to the back of his shoulders. “How many weirdos have you seen, anyway?”

“Enough to last me a lifetime.” He knows one more wouldn't hurt.

His assistant scoffs at the reply before continuing his work. Eren's a college student, broke and struggling in school, which is why Levi Ackerman took pity on him and allowed the poor kid to work part-time in his tea shop. Not that he can save his grades, but he knows the feeling of having to rely on a measly allowance from financial aid. He's been there, done that. Many, many,  _ many _ years ago. In addition, Eren has proven to be helpful and quick to learn from his mistakes. Once, he steeped the tea for too long for a customer, and after Levi had to click his tongue when he saw the precious tea going down the drain, the young nineteen-year-old immediately promised to do it properly next time. That, and Eren's more cheerful when talking to customers — something that people prefer to a grumpy shop owner in his 30s.

Levi’s thoughts are distracted when he sees the wild-haired woman adjust her thick-lensed glasses and elbow her drink, chuckling after almost knocking it down. It astonishes him how one can look so smart and act so clumsy at the same time. 

“Wait a minute, so how the fuck do you know her?”

Eren shrugs his shoulder before pressing the button of the brewing machine. “Oh,  _ everyone _ on campus knows  _ her _ ,” he states, and then he lowers his voice, “They think she’s finally lost it.”

He goes on to explain that Professor Zoe caused an explosion at the lab a year ago which triggered the fire alarm and sent the entire school in a panic. One time Eren asked her for directions to the Physics lab and she ended up giving him a 10-minute lecture about the optimization of carbon footprints around campus before telling him where to go. Levi is amused by the story, but he hides his fascination in the form of disdain.

There’s a couple of chatter in his tea shop, mostly students using the wall sockets to charge their phones and laptops while they study. The ambiance his place provides is warm and cozy the way he likes it with how he arranged the armchairs and couches and lined up the thick hardbound books on corner shelves where no one could reach, not even him. It's amazing how his business has grown with the money that he loaned from the bank three years ago. 

It's also amazing how his business, just like the poorly oversteeped tea, is going down the drain. Ever since the other cafe opened two blocks down the street, his customers have been dwindling in number. Granted, coffee is not his specialty for the most part, and the art of tea is the only thing he’s passionate about, which means he’ll have to find a new gimmick to keep his business afloat.

The hours go by so fast, and it's mostly just him preparing everything while his assistant punches the numbers on the cash register. When the clock strikes 10 pm, Levi allows Eren to call it a day. 

“You sure? There’s like three other customers left.” Eren points out as he unties his apron. 

Levi nods. He can do this on his own. 

True enough, the two other customers head out five minutes later. They thank him for the service, crumpling a five-dollar bill before tossing it into his tip jar at the counter. The kind of customers he'd love to have, the kind of customers he'd wish he'd get more of.

And then there's this other kind. One that he can't completely describe. Said last customer in question is the professor, who, at this point, has fallen asleep, face planted right on the table. So he starts cleaning, wiping the counter and mopping the floor relentlessly, while eyeing the sleeping figure in utter judgment. Another five minutes have passed and he hears some snoring.

Calmly, he walks over to her, and realizes that she has started drooling. He casually nudges her by the shoulder, not caring if it’s a bit impolite. “Oi.”

“Hmm?” She moves her face to the side, an imprint of her wristwatch now on her cheek. 

He continues, “We close at 10:30.”

Eyes still closed, she arches an eyebrow, thinking it’s a voice in a dream. Something clicks in her mind that it’s not. That's when she jolts right up. 

“Oh, sorry about that.” she apologizes, finally realizing where she is. Her hand automatically reaches out for her glasses that lay on the edge of the table. “Didn’t realize I dozed off.”

“It’s fine,” he lies. 

The woman ties her hair up in a ponytail again, only to leave more strands sticking out. When she wipes the drool on her chin, Levi can’t help but put on a face of disgust, because,  _ Does this person even care about how she looks?  _

After she repositions her glasses, she blinks once, twice. “Gosh, would you look at that,” she exclaims, her eyes focused on her laptop where the cursor is blinking on the last sentence of a document. “I just did 1200 words in three hours! That's the longest I've ever written so far — ”

“Cool,” he says, hoping she takes the hint to shut up.

She doesn’t. 

“And they say writing a dissertation is like a sprint! But I think it's more of a marathon, with all the related literature plus the scopes and limitations—”

Her elbow accidentally nudges her textbook into the floor with a loud thud. 

“Fuck.”

Levi hisses in pain, hopping as his hands grabbed for his shoe. 

The textbook, which must have weighed a ton, has just crushed his foot. 

“Are you alright?” She stands up from her seat, worried and aware of how heavy the book is. Levi has to crane his neck up, noticing the slight difference between their height. The woman wails, “Ohmygod, I didn’t mean to —”

“Go. Just go.” Levi points to the door, a hand still nursing his foot. 

Ultimately embarrassed, she gathers her belongings while mouthing ‘sorry’ to him repeatedly. Before heading out, she scrawls something on a sticky note and tosses it into the jar beside the cash register.

When he finally has all the peace and quiet in his shop, he straightens himself up and walks back to the counter, his toes gone numb. He scoops the paper from the jar and smoothens the creases along its sides.

The message read: ‘ _ Let me know how I can make it up to you _ ,’ and below the messy scribble was her number.

Levi stares at it, dumbfounded in disbelief.

* * *

He and his friends are 12,300 feet up in the air, the engine of the plane roaring loud enough to make them deaf. Clouds billow every now and then, surrounding them like mist. From high above, the terrains look like the outlines people see on a map, and the buildings and houses are so miniscule they can fit in one's palms. Although he doesn't tell anyone, Levi has always loved this view; it gives him the feeling that he can take on whatever challenge the world hands over to him. 

“We're reaching the exit altitude, guys,” Erwin, their jump pilot and Levi's good friend, announces to the group. He adjusts the mic closer to his mouth. “Prepare for the drop zone.”

And then the engine reverberates as he speeds past the clouds. 

Erwin calls his job ‘skydiver-driver,’ but Levi thinks ‘jumper-dumper’ is more appropriate; he's a pilot dropping happy bombs—aka adrenaline-filled humans—from extreme heights. 

The blonde squad, as they jokingly refer to themselves (with the exception of Levi whose hair is as dark as a raven), is a group of veteran skydivers whose common interests include jumping out of planes and making sure they don't die upon landing. As if it's pure muscle memory, their hands tug around their harnesses, checking their gear, ensuring that everything is intact, especially the parachutes. Levi knows the drill, having done this multiple times for the past few years of his life. It's a thrill that he allows himself to have once in a while.

They're with other instructors doing tandem skydiving with newbies, bragging about who’s doing a hop n’ pop or so. They’ll probably fail the swoop upon landing, anyway. He can't wait to see who's embarrassing themselves. Most of them are just college kids wanting to conquer their fear of heights, not knowing that the fall is not even the scariest part.

The first time he exited an aircraft in mid-air, Levi had to fight the urge not to panic. Two hundred and twenty-five plane jumps after, he now feels flightful, weightless, and free. The part of letting go is always the hardest, the way one just falls into nothingness, the entire world in full view from the clouds.

“So, Levi, how’s the business going?”

“Good, just good,” he grunts, pulling his harness taut absentmindedly. “There's a cafe that opened recently in the neighborhood.”

To rub salt into the wound, Mike murmurs, “Ah, some competition.”

Levi clicks his tongue. He doesn't want to be reminded that he's currently burning cash to keep the operations of his tea shop running. 

A hand taps his shoulder.

“Don't worry about it, Levi. It's all about the marketing,” suggests Nanaba, Mike's girlfriend. She also happens to be a marketing specialist. “You just have to show them your value proposition. Make your shop as unique as possible.”

“Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.”

He leans against the window and focuses instead on the aerial stunts he wants to try out this time. Somersaulting in the air is very exciting for him. There’s only 50 seconds of freefall, only 50 seconds to perform a stunt before skydivers are required to deploy their parachutes. He's used to doing flips with his small physique. Something about having a lower center of gravity contributes to it. Whatever that is, he’s thankful for it. The last time he dived, he tucked his knees in first and did something like a barrel roll before releasing his hands. Maybe today he can maneuver a spin.

“You still don't want to join us?” Nanaba's eyes are encouraging. “You’re the best skydiver in town! You should take in students once again.”

Erwin joins in, shouting over the engine noise, “Think of all the perks you get. It's added income, too.”

“Yeah, think of how much more tea you can buy,” Mike grins. 

“Oh, yeah?” He snorts, his sarcasm evident. There’s a huge chance that he will only end up in more debt if he does. “The Brits will be fucking jealous, for sure.”

The salary of a skydiving instructor isn’t enough to pay the bills. It’s enough to consider it his hobby.

“Come on, Levi,” Erwin calls out to him, hands on both ears as he tries to adjust the huge earphone on his head. “Why not give it another go? Just like the old times.”

He can still remember the first day he took accelerated freefall classes and the day he earned his D-License; he’s able to take students in if he wants to, again. 

“It's tempting. I'll consider.”

His friends don't press upon the matter any further and he’s thankful for that. However, Mike's girlfriend changes the subject and his concentration goes down the drain. 

“Still thinking about her?”

“Who?” His face is blank but they all know who Nanaba's talking about.

“Good. You've moved on. Petra would have wanted that, anyway.”

He huffs at the sudden recollection.

Petra was this other skydiver whom he dated for a while three years ago. Young, wild, and completely fascinating, she was an enigma to him, and he had an inkling that the relationship could have worked, until she ended up choosing an instructor who was much younger (“And more hip!” she said). 

They’re now standing up with knees bent, hands sweating as they grasp the railing above their head and ready to jump anytime soon once Erwin gives the signal to open the door.

Mike asks, already shouting at the top of his lungs, “Where is she now?”

The signal light turns green.

Nanaba cranks open the heavy aircraft door with little difficulty. The wind howls into their ears, the air pressure rising, the view below grand and inviting. 

“Somewhere down south. Living the married life with Oluo,” she replies loudly, the huge gusts of air filling her lungs. The tandem-skydivers are right behind them, cheering the veterans who, by tradition, are more inclined to go first. Nanaba continues, “She sent me photos the other day, they look amazing together. I can show you—”

He releases his hold of the railing, falling with his back first to avoid hearing the rest of the conversation. They do not see him rolling his eyes as he dives into the sky, blood pounding in his ears. Later they’ll have to join him in their formation, but for now, these few seconds of solitude are enough. He feels free flying just like this.

* * *

The mad scientist comes back three days later and orders an entire pot of chamomile tea together with some fruit pastry. Eren has called in sick which means Levi's left to his own accord. It's a slow Wednesday night, more tables empty than filled, the chatters soft enough to blend in with the jazz music playing. 

He comes up to her and brings the woman her order, complete with a teapot full of hot water, a fancy cup and saucer. She looks up from her laptop when he puts down the tray on the table.

“I apologize for the other day,” she starts, her tone sincere and apologetic. “I hope that didn't give you a bad impression of me.”

His eyes avert her gaze. “No worries.”

“I'm Hange, by the way, Hange Zoe,” she introduces herself, the name unusual to him. “You must be the proud owner.”

‘Proud’ isn’t the word he’d used to describe himself, but he relents to it. “Levi. Just Levi.”

There’s an awkward silence humming between the two of them. Small talk is something he often avoids, particularly because he’s never good with his words, always opting for the shortest answer and never wanting to elaborate. This other person, however, never knows when to stop talking. 

Hange smiles at him, hand resting on her cheek, brown eyes wide and full of light. “I like your tea shop.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” and then changing the subject, he asks, “Do you want me to infuse the leaves for you?”

Nodding, she goes back to the original topic. “Your place kinda reminds me of my lab. It has this certain vibe that helps me focus on my dissertation.”

Levi lets the backhand comment slide; the tea shop resembling a lab isn’t really much of a compliment. But now he wants to know more about this peculiar customer. “Dissertation? What for?”

“My PhD in Astrophysics. I’m close to getting my degree.”

He’s intrigued by this recent discovery. “You want to be an astronaut?”

“Huh? No!” Her laughter, loud and priceless, rings throughout the room. “That’s always the response whenever I tell people that. There’s a government research lab in this town that I want to work for that conducts tests on atmospheric pressure. Their data helps aviation scientists, engineers, even pilots.”

She goes on to talk more about her passion for this particular kind of research and Levi, out of politeness, attempts to take it all in, complex jargons and highfalutin words included. It also doesn’t help that her hand gestures are very theatrical, making her look more like a comedian than a scientist.

At the end of her lecture, all he can say is: “No shit, that’s kinda impressive.”

“Thanks.” She beams at him. He's about to remove the dregs from the infuser when she continues, “I think air resistance has its own merits, but I don’t see why people are so keen on jumping from planes at 120 miles an hour. It’s as if they’re doubting if gravitational theory actually works.”

He watches her take the pastry from the plate. “I take it you've never jumped out of a plane.”

“That’s very suicidal,” she says after biting into the bread, flakes crumbling and falling out of her mouth. “The gear can malfunction anytime. What if you lose consciousness in mid-air? And then you forget to activate the parachute? Do you want the whole world to see you plummet straight to the ground?”

_ What a killjoy _ , he thinks. He wonders if they teach common sense in doctorate classes. Of course skydivers are given training and there are emergency protocols when the gear fails to do its job. However, he's not in the mood to explain those to her, so he takes her cup and starts pouring some tea. 

“Death by freefall doesn’t seem like a bad thing to write on my epitaph.”

“Hah, you might as well be digging your own — ”

Turning around too swiftly, she accidentally knocks the entire pot off his hand. Hot tea has scalded his forearm. 

“Shit. Shit.” 

The crash of the splintered fine china startles the one other customer who takes it as a cue to leave. 

Levi wags his arm, as if that would help at all. His cusses ring through Hange's ears. He runs to the kitchen and immediately puts his arm under the cool running water, the pain now stinging. He can hear the madwoman from the counter blabbering something about medications, none of those available around him right now. 

When she sees how the skin is red and patchy, Hange blurts out in a panic, “You need to go to the hospital!”

“Don’t be fucking ridiculous,” he says, as he looks for something to cover his arm with. He shakes his head when he's tempted to use a plastic bag. “This isn’t life-threatening.”

“You should rest for today, then!”

He continues rummaging through the supplies until he finds a cling wrap and sighs, “You have got to be kidding me.” This will have to do for now. The transparent film is shiny, making his arm look like a piece of raw chicken. 

“Let me drive you home, at least,” she says, genuinely concerned. “It's cold out tonight. I won't be able to sleep not knowing if you’re fine.”

The offer stuns him first. The temptation to just shrug her off is there and all he needs to do is come up with a pathetic excuse. But the last thing he wants to do for tonight is to hurt her feelings. He looks up at the wall clock, and then, sighing deeply for the nth time, he finally obliges. “If you insist. I still have half an hour to go before I close shop. Also, I need to clean up this mess.”

“I’ll wait,” she says, a determined look on her face.

He doesn’t object to that.

The orders and takeouts trickle down bit by bit, college students and young professionals wanting some late night tea and snacks to warm themselves up. It’s not easy doing all the work with only one forearm but he's able to manage. Every now and then he looks at the corner to find her still sitting there working on her laptop.

Once he's finally locked his shop for the night, he follows her into her car and rides shotgun. She starts yapping about his tea shop running out of honey during an emergency like this, how he should probably buy an aloe vera plant (“It works wonders, trust me!”), and that he should have learned his lesson (“Never pour tea while holding a cup from its handle!”). Levi has kept himself silent for the entire 15-minute trip, save for the time when she makes a wrong turn and they have to make a detour. 

“This is where I live,” he explains after they stop in front of his apartment. Clambering out of his seat, he points a thumb to the building. “Do you want to come in?”

Her face is unperturbed. “Only if you’d like me to.”

She parks the car and catches up to him, her long legs sprinting for a dash as Levi holds the elevator open for her. Fumbling for his room keys outside his unit, he tries not to graze the swollen part where his skin got scalded. It's going to form blisters soon, he can tell. Hange is looking around at the hallways, as if mesmerized by the pristine walls and ceilings around her.

He's not a fan of having people over at his place; his friends and uncle usually just invite themselves in without giving notice. But he’ll make an exception for tonight. “It’s not much, but make yourself comfortable,” he says to her as he pushes the door open. 

Hange giddily steps into his unit. “Oh, don’t mind if I do.”

The apartment is small but clean and orderly, the furniture modest in style and matching the white walls. Levi likes knowing where everything is at all times; it's the way he has always been growing up. Walking over to the bathroom, he takes out the medical kit. After grabbing the bottle of painkillers, he searches for the thick roll of bandage cloth. It’s ten times better than the cling wrap and, apparently, ten times harder to put on —either it’s too loose or too tight, and Levi’s patience is already wearing thin. He clicks his tongue, exasperated, and tries again.

Seeing his difficulty, Hange calls out to him from the living room, “Need some help?”

For a minute, he has forgotten about her. Maybe she could be of some use. He retreats to the couch, the end of the bandage still hanging and undone. He sits on the farthest end, giving her plenty of space to scooch right beside him. 

“This won’t take long.” She unravels the entire bandage once again, her slender fingers working their way like magic. Before she starts working on his arm, she then gently slides her palm under his hand, the touching of their fingertips sending some electrifying jolt to his senses.

In the meantime, he pops two painkillers into his mouth, crunching the pills with his teeth before swallowing them dry. He then breaks the silence, “How's your writing going so far?”

“Still working on it,” she says, carefully wrapping the bandage around his hand. “I was coming up with crazy titles at your shop the other night. Everything was just whacked, and I was on a roll with my imagination.”

That explains the laughter and the incessant typing last time.

“What did you end up with?”

She recites it in a heartbeat, not taking her eyes off his arm. “ _ Atmospheric Pressure and The Fourth State of Matter: One Hundred and One Ways of Analyzing Air Pollutant Decontamination through Gas Plasma. _ ”

Levi knows nothing about the science world, but he's certain that research papers are usually not this witty. Her title, however, reminds him of Harry Potter. “Why does it sound like a fucking novel?”

“I think manuscripts should be clever and creative, else no one will ever want to read them. They usually end up in the archives or in the dumpster. Hence, an eye-catcher of a title. What do you think?”

He opens his mouth to say something insulting, but hesitates. It’s probably not a good idea to offend someone who’s tending to his injury, even if said person is the one who caused it. So instead, he mutters a response, “Yeah, that’s definitely out of this world.” 

After securing the clips, she lets go of him, proud of her bandage-wrapping skills. “There, all done,” and then she pats his arm, making him wince. “Whoops.” The painkillers aren’t taking effect yet. 

He holds his hand out and admires her work. “You’re crazy,” he says, balling his fist and releasing it to make sure that the bandage is not constricting his blood flow. “First you injure my foot, and now my arm.”

“Well, I can aim for your face next.” Her eyebrow arches, as if teasing, while she moves closer to him, their faces just a breath apart from each other. 

That stops him, gray eyes now staring at her eyes, those huge brown eyes, warm and alluring. To avoid the tension, he looks down at her prominent nose then moves to her lips, his heart now beating fast. As if out of habit, he licks his lower lip, his voice low and ragged. “Would you now?”

“Try me,” she says, her tone daring. 

And then she reaches out for his face and kisses him hard.

Levi is surprised at first, eyes wide and open, before he finds himself leaning in to deepen the kiss, his arms wrapping around her waist and eventually travelling up her back. Their kisses are hungry and carnal, the way their mouths search for each other, like they’re the only ones they can hold onto in the world. He hasn’t felt this in a long time. Her hands push his shoulders and they crash back into the seat of his couch, kicking off their shoes. Hange straddles him. She’s quick to remove her blouse. Levi searches for the clasp of her bra, unfastening it with one hand, which impresses her a lot. In return, she helps him remove his shirt and pauses for a moment. She marvels at his body, grazing the back of her fingers against his toned stomach down to his ribs.

He snaps at her, “Are you just gonna stare at me, or what?” 

Her mind goes back into work mode. While she nips at his jaw, her hands start tugging at his pants, eager to see all of him bare. He gently pulls down her jeans together with her underwear and Levi sits up, drinks the sight of her naked. 

“Is this… alright?” Hange is unsure. For Levi, she’s more than enough. She’s flat in most places, but it doesn’t irk him one bit. He flips their positions immediately. Laying her against the armrest, he gives her his answer by cupping her breast with his palm, his thumb gently grazing her nipple, while his mouth sucks on the other, making her shudder in response. He takes it as a good sign so he continues and applies more pressure. There’s a moan that escapes her mouth and it turns him on even more as well. 

Already half-hard and pre-cum leaking, he realizes where they are so he stops, pressing a hand to her shoulder. “Not here.” He pulls her up, guiding her to his bedroom, where he thinks they can both be comfier. Plus, he can wash the sheets right after.

Her giggles fill his ears. “Whatever you say, Clean-Freak.”

They’re already by the bed when she pushes him back to the mattress and clambers right on top of him. Levi lets her. Hange dips her head and kisses him once again, mouths still hungry for each other, tongues searching and firing up their veins.

His hand automatically reaches for his drawer, and then he remembers something. “Shit. I don’t have one with me right now,” he admits, partly embarrassed that he hasn’t been laid in a while. 

The interesting part is that she’s not a bit worried. “It’s fine, I'll take the pill in the morning.”

If she wants him this badly, maybe he should offer to pay for it. Then again, she’s a scientist and a woman, which means she’s done the probabilities in her head that the odds of her getting pregnant are extremely low. 

He firmly grasps her thighs as she lowers herself into him. He can feel her tightness, muscles clenching around his length. She starts moving her hips, her sounds loud and lewd. It drives him up the wall in a good way. Digging her knees into the sheets, Hange doesn’t stop riding him, grinding even faster against him and controlling the entire rhythm. Levi can only follow her, watching as her moving shadow imprints itself on his wall. In a few seconds, he can already feel himself reaching his peak. All he knows is that he's enjoying this, and he hopes that she's enjoying, too.

“I'm close,” he breathes, eyes tightly shut and trying to hold it in until she's ready. 

Hange presses her hands firmly into his chest. “So am I.”

It doesn’t take long for both of them to climax. They’re still going at it when he releases first, a groan escaping his lips as he spills himself into her. Mouth hanging open, he grips her tighter by the waist, running his hands up along her back. A moment later, she comes after him, exhausted yet completely satisfied. 

Before removing herself on top of him, she plants a kiss on his mouth, lips ghosting on his neck and collarbones. Hange then sits back on her heels right at the edge of the bed, her eyeglasses skewed and almost falling down. Levi’s still eyeing her for a few seconds before he eventually decides to look away. Pushing the frame back into her face, she chuckles softly, cheeks flushed. 

“That was fun.”

“Yeah,” he pants, chest slightly heaving. “Yeah, it was.”

He's still laying down, eyes gazing up to the ceiling when he feels her weight leaving the mattress. She grabs the trail of her clothes and heads for the bathroom to clean up. A nagging feeling rises up inside him, urging him to give himself the courage to ask her to stay. The seconds turn into minutes, and then he lets go of this one chance.

She emerges from his bathroom all dressed up, but still closing a few buttons down her shirt. Mesmerized just by watching her, he props himself up, his elbows digging into the pillow. 

“I gotta go,” she says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Got lab first thing in the morning.”

“Right.”

“See you around, Levi.” Before she can step out, Hange accidentally bumps her face against the door, mouthing a noiseless “Ow!” and massaging her nose to soothe the pain.

He hears the door click and then she’s gone. The silence finally settles in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys think! This is my first work posted on AO3; my beta-reader @iamsueshii has helped me in making the dialogues more seamless. Levi as a skydiver has always been an dream AU of mine. 
> 
> Feel free to read some of my works on FanFiction.net https://www.fanfiction.net/~djmarinizela. I have a college LeviHan AU in there as well, plus some Rivetra stories.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So, do we have a deal?”
> 
> “I guess so, yeah.”
> 
> “Okay, cool.” She gives him a small smile. “We should probably set up some ground rules.”

There are times when he feels like he’s not himself, times when he thinks he’s hollow and lifeless until something interesting actually happens. This is one of those days. Every time he hears the bells of the tea shop chime, he fights the urge to look at the customer entering, only to find out that it’s not a person he’s hoping to see. The unsettling part is, he doesn’t know how he would react if it is, indeed, said person. 

Levi is absentmindedly twirling a pen around his fingers, his injured hand still unusable to do any menial work. Much to his annoyance, the blonde squad has sent him ‘get well soon’ texts, but the mere fact that he can’t go skydiving for at least a month has him raging deep inside. The bandage is still there, and he hasn't changed the wrapping at all, not wanting to undo her work including the ghostly imprints of her touch lingering on his arm. He'll do whatever it takes to preserve the memory from the other night. He doesn’t know why, but for some reason, her laughter is still echoing in his mind as if on loop. His brain is probably whacked at this point.

He’s seated on a bar stool, logging his inventory and making sure everything is in stock, when the door opens for the 72nd time. Mikasa, his second cousin from his mother’s side once or twice removed, walks in and goes straight to where he is.

“I need to borrow some money.” Mikasa leans on the counter, her tone deadpan. 

He doesn’t even take his eyes off his logbook. “Why?”

It’s only 3pm and she says her classes are already done, but Levi has an inkling that there’s something else she’s not really telling. 

“Have to get materials for my school project,” Mikasa explains, drumming her fingers on the surface. “Didn’t expect taking a class in Electronics to be so expensive.”

Levi is still suspicious of her. “And your parents didn't send you anything?”

“Takes a day for the wire to come in.” 

She eyes him with a threatening look, as if she’s ready to strangle him if he refuses. Levi hates it whenever a relative pulls the ‘we’re-related’ card on him. Aside from the cold personality, there’s no resemblance between the two of them; she could be adopted for all he knows. Irritated, he fishes his wallet from his back pocket and slaps a crisp fifty-dollar bill into her waiting hand. 

“This isn’t enough,” Mikasa simply states.

He takes out a twenty-dollar bill this time and slams it harder into the table. Going back to his work, he stops again when he hears the girl tapping her fingers on the ledge again. He grumbles, “What now?”

“I also need someone to assist me in carrying the stuff.”

His pen clanks to the ground. “Are you fucking serious? You’re an Ackerman.”

“And so?”

“Weakness doesn’t run in our blood.” He's seen this kid carry weights heavier than her in the past. He’s definitely not in the mood to chaperone his cousin. 

They’re still having that death-stare contest when out of nowhere, Eren volunteers himself.  “I can go with her.” He’s wiping his hands clean with a towel, his green eyes bright and excited.

Levi cranes his neck towards his assistant. “You will?”

“Yeah. Just count this as part of my working hours.” Eren is now tying up his hair in a bun, a smile forming on his lips.

Mikasa acts like she's expecting this and merely shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t mind if it's him.”

She eyes Eren interestingly and Levi is quick to catch that.  _ Teenagers _ , he reminds himself — _ they're _ _ still going through a phase _ . Knowing that it’s the path with the least resistance, Levi finally concedes. “Fine, just be careful.” He shuts his logbook and heads to the stockroom.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us to each other?”

Scowling, he walks back to where they are. “Eren, Mikasa. Mikasa, Eren. Are we good now?” He huffs as they stare back at him, mouths gaping open. And then he adds, “Use protection, brats.”

The two head out immediately, leaving the tea shop all to himself. There's the peace and quiet on a weekday afternoon that he usually craves, and for some reason, it's too quiet, too calm for his nerves. The only time he gets distracted is when Kenny texts him, asking if he could send him more money. 

Levi doesn’t need to know the reason for that. Either his uncle is going to spend it on booze or on the casino, or both. It’s been ten years of that and Levi already knows the drill; he just doesn’t know how to shrug Kenny off his life permanently. So as a temporary solution, he deletes the message and pretends it never arrived. Kenny will probably barge into his place one of these days, anyway. 

Not that he can help his uncle. His tea supplier, Reeve's Co., has raised the prices of their products once again. Levi can only take in so much decrease in his profits. The staggering flow of his customers is enough reason for him not to raise prices.

Which brings him to a lot of stress and pressure. Sometimes he does wonder though if life willingly gives him distractions once in a while —i f things actually happen for a reason. Not that he believes in fate or destiny; he thinks no person should ever regret the decisions made in one’s life. But he should probably seize the chance while it’s still there. 

Unable to bear it any longer, he fishes out Hange’s note bearing her number that he tucked inside his notebook, and finally gathers up the courage to text her: ‘ _ How’s your day going? _ ’

He reads the single sentence eight times and, slightly satisfied, tacks his name right after the question mark before hitting  _ Send _ . Now suddenly feeling anxious, he shoves his phone back into his pocket. Maybe he should have been more discreet with a ‘ _ What's up _ ?’ or more daring with ‘ _ Wanna hit up tonight? _ ’ Something is giving him the nagging feeling that he might have come across as a creepy pervert or a lonely old man, and he tries to push that away from the back of his mind. 

The worst she can do is reject him or ignore his text completely. She has plenty enough reasons to do either of those, which is why he's not expecting her to respond within five minutes.

‘ _ Teaching until 9pm, then I’m free. _ ’ After 30 seconds, she adds, ‘ _ What time are you closing? _ ’

Hands working quickly on his phone, he texts back: ‘ _ Same as always. _ ’

Levi wonders if she's currently on a break. Or if she's actually taking the time to text him back in the midst of teaching, or writing, or whatever she's doing. He can imagine her all hunched up in a lab somewhere, making mad science experiments. His phone vibrates again and the newest message from Hange appears. 

‘ _ Awesome! Meet you at 11pm? _ ’

He’s re-reading their conversation several times to make sure that he’s not dreaming this, that he gets to see Hange once again. The clock is currently pointing at half past 5. He's got enough time to prepare. ‘ _ Sure. Your place or mine? _ ’

When she gives him an address, he finally finds himself able to breathe.

Another customer enters and orders a cup of green tea latte. Levi’s mind tries to go back to work, carefully pouring the drink into the paper cup to avoid injuring his hand even more. Unfortunately, he fails when his thoughts go back to Hange. Maybe he should ask her out. Would that be too quick, considering they just had a one-night stand? Would she freak out? He hasn’t dated anyone in such a long time, anyway, and doesn’t remember how to go about it once again. What if he just ghosts her after tonight? It would seem awkward if she were to become a patron of his tea shop. He doesn’t want to lose a regular customer, either, not with the dwindling orders nowadays. Besides, as much as he’s crass with his words, Levi’s not the type to be an asshole. At least, he tries not to. 

“Uhm…” A blonde girl in front of him is looking down at her drink that he’s still pouring. 

He snaps, “What?” 

Following her gaze, he sees the overflowing cup.

Levi immediately grabs a towel to wipe the huge puddle of tea on the counter, clicking his tongue at the mess he just made. The blonde girl doesn’t seem delighted either. The cup is brimming with tea right to the brim, dregs floating on the surface; any slight movement and it’s going to spill. 

The little girl frowns at the drink. “What am I supposed to do with this?” 

“Sip it. That’s extra tea with no charge.”

She huffs, arms crossed in front of her. “You can’t be serious.” 

He rolls his eyes and grabs another cup to make the tea, this time pouring it properly, his thoughts now in complete focus in nothing else but the drink in front of him. He can hear the short girl muttering something about poor customer service, but he doesn’t care. He’s trying his best. After handing it to her on a carton sleeve and with a load of napkins, he’s about to grab the overflowing cup and dump it into the sink when the girl takes it before he does. 

“Ymir, this one’s for you. Careful, though!” 

Another taller female comes up to the counter and takes the drink from the shorter girl. “Oh, wow, we got free tea? For what, Historia?” Slowly, she sips from the cup to avoid spilling more of the liquid on her clothes.

“Shop owner’s nice enough today.”

The two girls look back at Levi for a confirmation. He knows he just got cornered so all he mutters is, “It’s on the house.”

Fortunately, the taller girl has enough decency to order a cheese tart to accompany the drink. Ymir and Historia return to their tables where they’re seated with a few more students. Those two are the only ones who have ordered anything within the past five hours since they've been there. The others have been bickering nonstop about their schoolwork and projects, as if his tea shop is some sort of safe haven where they could let themselves be. But despite his grumpy personality, Levi doesn't have the heart to shoo them away. He's grateful enough to consider the kids his patrons.

Eren returns with Mikasa three hours later, together with a huge box of said electronics that she needed. They’re both in high spirits, chatting with each other, cheeks both flushed and glowing. If Levi squints enough, he can see Mikasa’s hair a little bit disheveled and that there’s a faint smudge of lipstick on his assistant’s neck. On top of that, his cousin is smiling, almost grinning, which is highly unusual because Mikasa never smiles, and everyone knows that.

His assistant then introduces Mikasa to the rest of his friends who are studying in the corner of the tea shop, including the two girls Historia and Ymir. They tell him about how they got a free cup of tea and Eren finds it remarkable that his boss has the decency to reward his customers once in a while. Levi can definitely see that Eren’s a  _ little bit too close _ to Mikasa, especially with the way the boy pats her on the shoulder once in a while. Then again, he can be a little bit too protective of his cousin as well. 

When Mikasa bids all of them goodbye, Levi crosses his arms and legs while sitting on the bar stool, a scowl etched on his face. “Well, I don't know what the fuck is going on, but if something bad happens to her, I’m kicking your ass.”

“You should let yourself loose, Boss,” Eren says, still smiling to himself, elbows leaning on the counter like he’s been bitten by the lovebug. “Gotta relax in life like I do.” 

Levi prays to the heavens above that the two had the decency to use protection.

* * *

Hange pulls him in the moment she opens the door upon his arrival, backing him up against the wall.

“Took you long enough, Four-Eyes.”

“Are we using nicknames now, Clean-Freak?” She asks him in between kisses, “How’s your arm?”

“Still healing." He breaks apart their kiss. "Did you take the pill last time?”

"Of course I did." She looks offended. "I'm not ready to see a mini-me anytime soon."

He'll take her word for it. "Good. Neither do I." It's his turn to push her up against the wall which Hange allows him to, surprised at his hidden strength and hands fumbling around.

There's some music coming from her speakers in the living room, he notices just now. Maybe it's because of the loud booming sound pounding in his ears like he's in a club. He wouldn't have given a damn about some background song playing had her choice not been so… uncanny.

Hange eventually notices that he's distracted. "What's wrong?"

"Are you kidding me?" He murmurs into her mouth. "This song, really?"

"Yeah, don't you like it?"

"I'm fucking sure  _ Dancing Queen _ isn't part of my playlist when I'm having sex."

"God, why do you have to be so picky?" Hange lets go of him and turns off the music, still humming the chorus. She comes back to him, grinning. "There, you happy now?"

The silence is so much better. Their lips close upon each other once again, with Levi guiding Hange by the nape so she can lean down a little bit. It feels weird to be the one craning up to kiss, but he lets himself linger in the moment. Fuck dating stereotypes, anyway. He has already accepted at this point in his life that he’ll never be gifted in the height department. At least he has something to compensate for. 

His thoughts are interrupted when Hange's tongue invades his mouth. The surprise in his eyes catches him off guard when she starts sucking his tongue. He pulls away only for her to be able to lick his lip and insert her tongue gently into his mouth while he's running his hands through her hair down to her shoulders and hips. He's biding his time. Levi's not a fan of romance, but for some reason, tonight she also feels very… affectionate. And of course, he takes notice.

"What was that for?"

She's embarrassed. "Sorry, I can't help it. I've been wanting to try this out for so long."

"Oh, by all means." 

Hange has turned him into a guinea pig. 

When he doesn't object, she grabs him again and kisses him on the mouth, attempting another sloppy French kiss that he'll take either way.

They head straight to her bed, bumping once or twice against a pile of books on the floor. Their hands grip every crevice of their bodies, filling in all the spaces they can reach and tugging their shirts out of their pants. Her room is much more cramped than his (and Levi's unit is already small for his liking), because Hange apparently has the knack to horde textbooks and stack them on every space that she can find. 

He nips at her neck, sucking the skin every now and then. She seems to like it by the way she exposes her skin even more. They capture each other's mouths once again, Hange tracing his jawline with her thumb. Her fingers start working on his shirt, popping the buttons loose one by one. Something about her hands feeling the outline of his abs has him going crazy. 

He then helps her remove her top once the back of his knees hit the bed, prompting him to sit on the edge. Her hands find their way on his pants and start tugging it loose together with his boxers. Yanking them down, she lets the fabric pool down his ankles before trailing kisses from his toned chest down to his torso. He's fully-erect now, his chest flushed and his cheeks hot. She goes down on her knees and starts pumping his shaft, her hand running through his length. It feels good to him. He closes his eyes and tips his chin up, all the sensations overwhelming him, the room becoming a blur. He doesn't see her taking it in her mouth, her slurping loud and enough to turn him on. There's a popping sound and then she goes all in again, teeth tucked inside her lip and cheeks hollow. Levi can only watch her messy ponytail bobbing up and down between his legs.

“Oh, fuck, Hange…” he groans, her thumbnails digging into his thighs. He places a hand on her arm, rubbing it gingerly and encouraging her to continue.

The next thing he knows she's increasing the pressure with her hand, her mouth only covering the tip of his length. Levi shivers once more when she runs her tongue along the underside, her eyes catching his delirious gaze. Alternating between licking and sucking, Hange makes use of her other hand to massage his balls. Right when he's on the brink, she stops, edging him and making him yearn for more. He’s confused at first, like he’s done something wrong, but Hange gives her a look enough to make him melt. 

“I want you inside me,” she says.

Her words immediately shoot the good kind of shivers down his spine. Taking out his wallet, he quickly puts the condom on. When he glances up, she's already on all fours turning away from him with her forearms resting on the pillow. The sight of her just like that is enough to send him to madness. Positioning himself behind her, Levi adjusts her angle a little bit lower, arm hooking around her waist, and teases her first by rubbing the tip at her opening.

He enters her slowly, and then pulls out immediately, eliciting a groan from Hange. Levi leans forward to her ear and whispers, "Tell me how you like it."

"Harder, yeah, that's it," she whimpers when he pushes himself inside her once again Hange wants it rough. The motion repeats itself. He does as he’s told and moves his hips, the back of her thighs slamming against his pelvic bones. 

A minute later, he starts slipping out and in order to keep it in, he finds himself pulling her hair, not caring if it’s washed or not. His thrusts go faster, his forearms rippling and hands planted firmly on her back. Hange starts touching herself, her muscles clenching around him, and Levi is ecstatic that she's giving him more pleasure this way.

She then grasps his wrist, motioning him to stop. Levi does so. Hange rolls over to lay down on the bed and spreads her legs. He knows what she wants and doesn’t need any further instructions from her. Levi takes her there and then, putting her ankles up against his shoulders. It's more intimate like this, watching each other's expressions every second of the moment. They're so close that he can feel her teeth grazing his clavicle. Hange grabs a fistful of the sheets as he continuously rams against her, changing his pace every now and then, until he can get a rhythm going and lets the pleasure build up. He knows he's hit the spot when her voice comes out strangled and her breath leaves her in hitches. Her hands wrap around him, blunt fingernails scraping his back and driving him crazy. She finally screams out her orgasm, and Levi, satisfied in seeing her like this, cums quietly, trying not to collapse on her as he holds himself up with his elbows on both sides of her shoulders.

“You alright?” Hange looks at him in concern, her hands feeling his biceps.

“I'm fine, just give me a second.”

Up close, her eyes are more beautiful than ever, her nose more pronounced but still something attractive to him. Levi suddenly finds himself touching her face, brushing some strands of hair away that have gathered on her forehead. He’s startled, however, when Hange gently removes his hand and wiggles her way out from beneath him.

Clearing his throat, he takes the awkwardness in the air as his cue to clean up in the bathroom. It feels more awkward having to gather up his clothes from the floor and still processing everything on his own. After discarding the condom in the trash, he washes his face on the sink, aware that his entire head could barely reach the top edge of the mirror. There’s no way that she would ever want him for herself. 

When he comes back, she’s in the living room, wearing loose sweatpants and a plain shirt, feet up on the couch, arms tucking her knees in. Her apartment is as messy as she is, with more textbooks stacked up on her coffee table as if she reads them for entertainment and leisure, which Levi has an inkling that she probably does. She’s checking something on her phone — a map, from what it seems. That, and she's still humming the lyrics of  _ Dancing Queen _ . Levi wonders what’s her fascination behind it.

But this is probably the part where he leaves, he says to himself. This is the part where he’s not supposed to stay any longer and just forget about everything tonight. Before he can do so, she looks up from her phone and into his eyes before speaking. 

“I need some fresh air.” She stands up and grabs a jacket hanging from the rack. “Wanna hang out with me for a bit?”

Needless to say, Levi caves in. 

It's cold out when they go to the rooftop, the night sky devoid of any clouds, the full moon brightly lighting up with the stars. Hange walks to the corner where he can see a telescope perched near the edge. She takes out her phone to check out the map once again, which apparently is an outline of the stars. Seeing him eyeing her phone, she tells him, “I go here when the sky is clear. You can see most of the constellations in the Northern Hemisphere. Do you like stargazing?” 

He and his friends, Farlan and Isabel, used to hangout on a rooftop like this long long before he had set up his tea shop. But it was more of a drinking session than an actual stargazing activity. Also, he lost touch with them years ago. He's not ready to talk about that with Hange. Yet. 

“Never really tried it.”

“Really? Well, never too late to start.” She goes to his side and takes his uninjured hand, pointing it to the star sitting a little bit above the horizon. “That one’s Polaris, also called the North Star. The entire sky moves around it, so that’s how stargazers locate the constellations.” She traces some of the ones she knows, guiding his hand to where the Ursa Minor is before moving on to Ursa Major, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, and finally, Orion’s Belt. 

Once he’s familiar with the basic patterns, she lets go of his hand and walks over to her telescope, setting up its aperture and adjusting the knobs. 

Levi is now curious. “Can you see the moon and its craters through that?”

She’s looking through the telescope when she starts speaking again. “Of course, but there’s so much more to see with this. In fact, Saturn’s out tonight. Did you know that it takes about 29.5 years to complete one full orbit around it?”

At this point, he’s no longer zoning out whenever she speaks about facts she knows and is passionate about. She gives more trivias about the planets while helping him look into the telescope, adjusting the height for him. He bends down, one eye squinting, and looks into the eyepiece, trying not to mind her breath hot on his nape. Finally, he sees a pale yellow marble with a disc around it, which Hange explains to him is Saturn with its rings. 

“You seem really passionate about what you’re doing,” he tells her.

She places one hand on his back, while the other on top of his as they navigate the telescope, and all that Levi can think about is the warmth of her touch.

“My theory is that if we analyze how stars and planets are formed, and how the atmospheric pressure varies in each of them, we might be able to find a model that will allow us to generate some plasma that’s enough to decontaminate pollutants in the air.” Hange then continues to connect it to her dissertation, and explains how her research can actually contribute to the knowledge of mankind about the universe. “Imagine if we can remove pollution in the city! Or even in the entire world.” She gestures with her hands, waving them around her. “In the end, plasma can save the day.”

“I hope you’re not thinking about causing an explosion within the area.” He’s probably watched too many Batman and World War 2 movies to know how her research might end. 

She releases a short laugh. “No, of course not! But the plasma has to be dropped from a very high elevation. Sometimes I do wonder what it’s like to just fall out of the sky, like a nuclear bomb.”

Levi can’t tell if she’s joking or not. “Well, I don’t know what a falling nuclear bomb feels like, but skydiving comes pretty close.”

“You’ve skydived? Skydove? Skydiven?” Hange wrinkles her nose. 

“I still do. Once in a while, yeah.” 

“You did mention it last time, but I didn’t realize you jump often.”

He gazes up from the eyepiece to look at her surprised expression. He then finds himself giving her a short story of how he usually hangs out with his friends and skydiving whenever they have time, indulging themselves in the feeling of having to jump out of a plane with nothing but pure adrenaline rushing in their brains. Hange is ultimately fascinated when he tells her his own experience of learning how to conquer his fear. “Free-falling makes you realize that the world is truly a big place.”

Her eyes are filled with awe. “Wow, that’s pretty cool, if you ask me.”

"Thanks.” He steps back from the telescope. “For the stargazing. And for tonight.”

There’s some silence between them for a moment, the night sky looming above them. Hange’s teetering back and forth on her feet, hands in the pockets of her jacket. “So, uhm… do you wanna keep doing this?”

Part of him wants to think that she’s referring to the stargazing, but his brain knows she means something else. “Only if you can handle it, Four-Eyes.”

She sighs, “This is all I can handle right now. I’ve always dreamed of fast-paced, whirlwind romances, but I’ve never been good with the romance part, so it’s all just a whirlwind these days.”

"You tell me."

"I can't afford to date right now. Plus, I'm terrible with commitments."

"Can't keep up?" 

"Exactly! The entire ordeal is worse than plasma generation." Hange puts her hands behind her back, eyes staring at the ground. "There's so much going on in my mind it's currently a mess."

Her work and studies are currently taking up a lot of space on her plate, she explains to him, and that she can’t balance everything. Her manuscript needs more work and sufficient data from experimentation to support her ideas. On top of that, she’s teaching 18 units for the semester and doesn’t get a lot of rest between lab work and classes. That being said, she’s ready to explode. 

Even though he doesn't know what it's like to juggle those things simultaneously, Levi can somewhat understand how she’s feeling. His business is running straight to the ground, and he still has to deal with his ungrateful relatives. To add to that, it's been two years since he dated Petra, which was the last time he desired to be in a relationship, and up until now, he's still unsure if he really wants a serious commitment. “I don’t usually do this.”

“Neither do I. But everything’s taking a toll on me and I just need to let some steam off once in a while,” she admits, and Levi seems to get where she's coming from. Hange clasps her hands together and continues, “I mean, it's purely casual! You’re free to say no whenever you want. No hard feelings, I promise.”

He’s not the type to sleep around, with most of his hours always spent working in his tea shop and skydiving with the blonde squad. But it’s not everyday someone gives him an arrangement like this. It’s a risk he’s willing to take. After looking at the skies, he finally sighs, “Okay.”

“So, do we have a deal?”

“I guess so, yeah.”

“Okay, cool.” She gives him a small smile. “We should probably set up some ground rules.”

His shoulders twitch, not believing that formalities should be set in place for casual hookups like this. Nevertheless, he says, “Sure.”

“First things first, uhm, let me think…” Hange's voice trails off as her mind zones out. And then she snaps her fingers. "Gotcha! First, no eye fucking during sex. That shit creeps me out! None of that cuddling and sweet hand-holding, either. And then, uhm, do you want dirty talk? I mean, that's fine with me. I'm not so keen on calling anyone ‘Daddy,’ but if you like that — "

“I don’t have daddy issues,” he cuts her off.

“Mommy issues? Oedipus complex?”

“Hell no.”

“How about getting degraded?”

He's not a piece of trash, he'd like to think so. “Can't go any lower when you've hit rock bottom." 

“What do you think of BDSM?”

The suggestion startles him for a second. Where does she get all her ideas, anyway? “Never tried, but I’m open to it.” 

“Cool. Hmm, what else?” Hange continues her rambling. “I'm not too keen on toys myself, but we can try different positions every time, do trial and error, experiment.” She puts an emphasis on the last word. 

"You don't have to lay out everything right now. It's not like we're signing a contract." Perhaps there's something in him that doesn't want their relationship, if he could call it that, to be solely dependent on what they could or could not do in bed.

Hange nods in agreement. “You're right. We can just come up with more rules as we go. Most importantly, of course —” She takes a step closer to him and puts her hands on her hips. “ Try not to fall in love.”

He looks away. “Sounds good to me.”

“How about you, got anything to add?”

“Just one,” he says, and she looks at him like she’s waiting for a present. “No shower, no sex."

"That's it?"

"Yeah, I’m not touching you if you smell like you haven’t taken a shit in days.”

It’s dark out where they are but he can see her face break into a stupid smirk. 

“You got it, Clean-Freak.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My beta reader @iamsueshii and I were so into the idea of Levi being a skydiver we were just gushing about it nonstop when we first started talking to each other LMAO. I've never skydived (skydove? skydiven?) before, but I know people who's already tried it out---and they don't regret it! Gotta put that in my life's bucketlist!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Who says I’m only playing with her?”
> 
> Moblit opens his mouth to say something but eventually decides to avoid the question. “I just don’t want her getting hurt. She’s special to me just like that, even if she doesn’t realize it. That’s all.”

The entire arrangement goes completely normal for weeks, and by normal, it means them acting like horny teenagers, when in fact they’re two adults already settling in their 30s. He finally buys an entire box of condoms, keeping a packet or two in his wallet, a few in his car, and the rest stashed in his bedside drawer. Oftentimes she’d wait for him to close shop, but once or twice he'd have to pick her up from campus. It only becomes awkward when the students recognize her and wonder why she’s there working at the tea shop instead of blowing up her lab.

“Take a shot or strip,” Hange dared him, prompting him to down a glass of vodka in one go. They were playing truth or dare with a twist in his living room and Levi neither wanted to answer her question (“What’s the kinkiest thing you've ever done?”) nor perform a striptease for her. She was already down to her undies, bold and brash to be sitting in front of him cross-legged without a care in the world. It baffled Levi to no end while they later made out. It also baffled him how he can be more relaxed around her, even when he fell off the bed the moment they rolled over, and Hange’s laughter echoed throughout the room.

“Damn it, why does your playlist suck big time?” He stopped her from undressing him on their next encounter, her hands already tugging his pants loose. Hange’s music is very out of this world. Which says a lot about her. Before they could continue, he walked over to where her stereo is and turned it off, not giving a shit when Hange rolled her eyes. He wasn't having  _ Uptown Girl  _ play on loop in his mind while they were having sex.

That's only the tip of the iceberg. One time, he blindfolded and tied her up to her bedpost upon her request. It was the kinkiest they had ever done so far, until Hange accidentally banged her head too hard against the bedframe when he grabbed her by the ankles — he was trying to settle them on his shoulders. The mad scientist almost had a concussion. Since then, their sexual escapades have progressed from late-night car sex in hidden parking lots to quick ones in the bathroom of his tea shop, Levi clamping her mouth shut to make sure nobody can hear them from inside. 

Interestingly, he’s probably had way more sex the last few weeks compared to the last three years of his life. Hange’s both fun and wild to hang out with. Oftentimes she’ll talk about her day first and then ask him about his, before they get down and dirty, taking turns eating each other out and licking sweat off their skin. Neither of them ever stays for the night, often choosing to leave immediately once the deed has been done. They’ve been extremely careful, too. The last thing he would want is to have a baby dumped right on his doorstep nine months later.

It’s a late Friday night and they’re soaking in his bathtub, Hange’s back facing him as he incessantly scrubs all the grease out of her hair. They’re already at that stage where they don’t give a care about being naked around each other. Plus, he doesn’t mind bathing her and actually takes the time to ask questions about her life. “I just don’t understand why you keep on working on this research of yours.”

“What about it?” Hange pops a bubble on her arm. “It’s the PhD life.”

He lathers more of the shampoo into her head, combing through her scalp. “You could have chosen an easier topic, like stargazing, or —s hit, I don't know — the science of bubble-blowing?”

She stretches out her legs and leans against his chest. “I could, but what’s the point of that? I want something groundbreaking. Besides, PhDs are supposed to add something significant to the field, not just parrot another person’s research. That's what the related literature is for.”

When they’re done rinsing and drying each other off, they settle in the living room, minds tired and limbs aching after a long week. Hange tells him more about her research and how her parents have inspired her to pursue science in the long-run. She's definitely at ease talking to him just in a plain shirt, hair loose on her shoulders and bare legs dangling off his couch.

After an hour or so of listening (and Hange’s story is still on the go about her failed experiments in the past), he uncrosses his legs that have already gone numb and offers her something for a change. “Do you want me to get you a drink?”

Hange stops her storytelling. “I don’t know, maybe hit me up with something new? Something that will blow my mind.”

“How does tea with liquor sound?”

She nods with a grin. Levi heads over to the kitchen to boil a kettle of water with Hange watching him from the living room, her legs bare and resting on top of his coffee table. While he's preparing it, her eyes wander around his unit. On a desk in the corner, there’s a photo of a woman holding a child no older than 10; a young Levi with chubby cheeks and wide eyes is something she doesn't see everyday. Hange surmises the woman to be his mother, having the exact same gray eyes and sharp jawline that Levi has. 

“Why a tea shop, by the way?” A question sparks in her mind. “Not that I’m judging! Just curious. Normally, people would opt for a coffee shop.”

He stops slicing some lemons. If she were some other person, he probably would have told that he just likes tea. But he already knows by now that Hange would just prod him with more questions until she gets to the bottom of the mystery. The only way he can get away with it is to be honest with her. 

“My mother used to make tea all the time when I was a brat. Said she wanted to open a tea shop. We didn't have the money back then, so I told her it was a stupid idea. Of course, I regret telling her that.”

“What happened?”

“She passed away 20 years ago.”

Her eyes are downcast. “I’m sorry.”

He doesn’t want the sentimentality to linger, so he tries to remember a nice memory. “I had some friends who helped me secure some financing for the initial investment. They’re the best people I’ve ever met, not because they gave me the funds to start the job, but because they supported me all the way.”

Levi recollects his times with Farlan and Isabel, childhood friends who stuck with him through thick and thin, and tells Hange about them. He hasn’t been in touch with them for a while since they moved out of the city, but he admits that he does miss their company. They used to be rascals running around in their younger years, oftentimes doing pranks to annoy the shit out of people. He has never told anyone about this part of his life, but Hange seems to be listening intently.

“That’s good to know. You must have had some rough times.”

“Yeah, and I still do.” He takes out his stash of tea leaves from the cupboard. “Vanilla or raspberry green tea?”

“What’s in it?”

“Rum. Or do you prefer chamomile with vodka?”

“Go easy on me. It’s my first time.” She winks. 

After infusing the leaves in boiling water, he adds some sugar to the pitcher of cold water together with the tea. The recipe has yet to be perfected and he’s just winging all the ratios. It’s an experiment, just what Hange has said. He’s rummaging through his liquor cabinet to look for the bottle of rum when he poses a question: “If you didn’t become a scientist, what path would you have taken?”

She rubs her chin. “Hmm, that’s a good question. Maybe a standup comedian?”

He stops mixing the drink. “A standup comedian?”

“Yeah, it’s someone who gets paid to say jokes onstage. Kinda like a clown, but without the stupid attire.”

“I know what a fucking standup comedian is. But you, in comedy?” Levi is just appalled. “Shit, you’ve got to be kidding. You have the sense of humor of a grandma.”

His retort has fallen on deaf ears. Hange has turned on the TV and is now tuning in to some stupid comedy show. He lets her be, wanting to hear her laughter every minute or so. Levi takes a deep breath upon handing her the glass of spiked tea and watches her take a drink from it. There’s a drop that trickles down the side of her mouth and he has to fight the urge to wipe it with his thumb. Or tongue, whichever.

“Oh wow, this is actually good, you know,” she remarks, ice cubes clinking in the glass. "I've never had anything like this. It’s super mind-blowing!"

“Thanks.” He heads back to where the pitcher is and mixes vodka with a different kind of tea.

“I think I’ll call this one ‘Sawney’s Tropical Rum Tea,’” and then looking at the drink he’s making for himself, she goes, “and yours will be ‘Vanilla Bean Vodka Surprise’.”

“Those are the most hideous cocktail names I’ve ever heard.”

Hange pretends she didn't hear him again. “People would go crazy for this. You should probably add this to the menu!” She then starts spouting random ideas on the back of her mind. “Black tea and rum, green tea and whiskey, mint tea with bourbon… ooh, that’s right up my alley.”

He gives her a judging look. “You want to turn my tea shop into a bar?”

“Only on certain days!” She jumps up for a bit, some of the liquid sloshing out. “I’m sure you can pull it off. Maybe have an event or something to keep the people coming.”

“Interesting.”

Once he has deposited the empty pitcher into the sink, he slumps right beside her on the couch, hitching up his feet on the cushion, spiked tea in hand. Her eyes are glued to the screen, lips resting on the rim of her drink. The credits roll on the TV, signifying the end of the comedy episode. Slowly, she moves closer to him, their knees grazing against each other. He tenses up for a bit, confounded by the electrifying touch.  _ Friends _ , he reminds himself — _ just friends _ . 

They stay still for a while until she slouches a little bit to his level and rests her head on his shoulder, her brown hair now soft and fragrant. “Levi?”

He sips his drink. “Yeah?”

“I think your mother would have been proud.”

* * *

Eren says classes are taking a toll on him which is why he needs to cut down his working hours. It doesn't bother Levi one bit; finances are tight these days. There’s a headache ready to split his brain: he's doing the cash flow statements for the month, having learned all of these basic business skills on his own. He would have opted to hire another student for his tea shop, but based on what he’s seeing on the numbers, he can’t afford a second assistant right now. 

His thoughts are interrupted by some loud chattering which turns out to be the same group of students studying together. They like Levi’s tea shop precisely because there’s no one else in there but them. One of them named Armin is tutoring them all, his voice raising once in a while to point out the mistakes on their homeworks. The boy reminds him of Hange a lot, passionate about learning and teaching, but without the crazy side that only she can pull off.

“Imagine if we can pull more people to visit this place,” Eren tells Levi while he’s preparing a customer’s order. “Gather all the cool kids around the block. That’d be the dream.”

Levi’s thinking of promotions and discounts, but those are boring and people usually only get the hang of it for a while until they get fed up once they've already tried using the coupons. When it comes to business, his imagination is not as wild enough as he hopes it to be. 

“Let me know if you come up with ideas to gain more customers,” he tells the boy. “You might have some hidden creativity in you.” 

Eren snaps his fingers. “We can scout for talents or something! Maybe do a freak show or an auction?”

“I take that back. Those ideas are terrible.”

“Whatever you say, tiny old man.” Eren laughs. “It's good that you’re taking things lightly nowadays.”

He curiously glances at his assistant. “What do you mean?”

“You look… how do I put this? Less grouchy?" The boy looks up to the ceiling and ponders. "Like you’re almost turning over a new leaf. Did you meet someone?”

“No.” Levi shifts uncomfortably, the hesitation evident in his tone. He's not going to talk about his friend-with-benefits to his assistant, no matter how nice he may seem. “No, not really.”

“Must be the professor that keeps coming here. She does put the ‘mad’ in the mad scientist, but she’s got the looks, now that I think about it — ”

He lightly kicks his assistant by the shin. “Shut the fuck up, Yeager.”

“Huh, okay then.” Eren is amused. He is about to head to the stockroom when he remembers something. “Oh, and by the way, Mikasa told me she opened the store for you the other day, and then she billed you for her hours."

He stops unboxing the stash of tea leaves. "What the fuck? What did you do?"

"I gave her some money for that from my own pocket. She said you can just pay me back.”

The afternoon is spent writing down spiked tea recipes on his notebook. His vision for his tea shop has always been traditional and old-fashioned, but now he’s considering that maybe it’s time for a change. He’s still listing down about some ideas when his phone starts vibrating continuously. Normally he would just let the calls go to voicemail, often rejecting them completely — they’re mostly spammers and telemarketers, anyway. 

However, the familiar name that pops up on the screen catches his interest, so he picks it up, aching to hear Hange’s voice: “Uh, hi.”

There’s some rippling static in the background, and Levi assumes there’s a weak signal inside the lab.

“Hi.” His words have left him, but he also realizes that her voice sounds off. “Are you crying?”

She sniffs. “I may have left my manuscript at your place. I can’t find it anywhere else.”

He doesn't think twice and asks Eren to cover for him while he’s out. Driving home, he wonders what it would be like to go crazy over a missing manuscript. 

After minutes of searching, he eventually finds it underneath his coffee table. It’s a thick envelope and his fingers are itching to see what’s inside. Curiosity gets the better of him, and Levi knows he will regret this later, so he opens the flap and takes out a huge stack of papers, no more than a hundred pages in total. He tries skimming through a few, recognizing some of the terminologies Hange has been blabbering about all this time about plasma decontamination and atmospheric pressure. He can feel his entire brain power struggling to grasp the context of her research and, after reaching the middle page, he realizes he’s had enough reading for a day.

Soon after he texts her that he found it, Hange asks if he could drop it off at her lab (“Sorry for the inconvenience, but I really appreciate it!” she wailed); he is more than happy to do so, as long as he gets to see her even for just a bit. One good thing about his stature probably is that he can easily be mistaken for a college student. He’s able to slip past security and blend into the thick crowd of students bustling through the hallways.

Several minutes later which includes getting lost around the campus, he's finally found her lab. He's about to knock on the door when he hears some heated argument from inside.

“You’re being too ambitious, Hange! Everyone’s getting worried, even Professor Shadis.”

“Shadis?” Her voice is higher than usual. “What does my advisor have to do with this?”

“He thinks you might miss the deadline. It’s possible —I won’t be surprised if that’s the case .”

A beat passes by, and Levi can tell that she’s thinking of what to say next. 

“I appreciate your concern, Moblit. But I can finish this. I already figured out how to analyze the data.”

There’s some muffled sounds but Levi can make out what they’re saying just by pressing his ears against the door. The guy argues that she can’t handle the experiments and that her methodology is getting too complicated. Hange rebuffs his statements by saying she's trying her best in validating her hypothesis.

A long silence fills in the room before a deep sigh. “I just hope you’re taking care of yourself.”

The sound of footsteps approaching prods Levi to step aside, just in time to see a person walking out of the lab. They exchange quick glances at each other before the other guy deliberately shakes his head as he continues along the opposite side of the hallway.

Inside, a sound of a foot kicking a cabinet door breaks the silence, followed by the crashing down of a lab stool. He can recognize Hange’s cussing reverberating around the walls. He’s never heard her this angry before. 

When she finally steps out, she puts up her safety goggles on her head, the lens having fogged from the cool temperature in the lab. She then jerks back in surprise upon seeing him. “Levi! How long have you been standing there?”

“Not too long.”

"If you've heard some noise just now, I found a cockroach on the floor. I just panicked." She gives him a weak chuckle. She’s wearing a labcoat underneath her tracksuit. Levi remembers her telling him that she used to run and do track and field back in high school, but she hasn’t gotten around to doing that nowadays. Her research has eaten up most of her time and her brain. 

"Huh, interesting. Seems like you sent it to the afterlife with that kick off yours."

He knows she's lying, but he wonders if this is Hange's way of assuring him that she's doing fine. Nevertheless, he hands her the envelope and the worried expression in her face immediately turns into relief. 

“You’re a lifesaver, you know that?” She takes out the papers in the light to review them. He probably hasn’t noticed it before because of the reflection from her glasses, but he can now see that her lashes are full and delicate, framing her bright and astonished eyes. Hange breaks his thoughts when she says, “I see you’ve read my manuscript.”

Her hand hovers over the metal clamp securing the sheets together, with Hange noting the dog-eared flaps on the pages. His cheeks redden with embarrassment. 

“Sorry, I couldn't help myself — ”

“No, it’s okay!” Hange puts up her hands to stop him, almost dropping the envelope in the process. “I’m surprised you’re actually intrigued. I had a fear you would have just chucked this into the trash.”

“Why would I? You’ve placed a lot of effort on that. It’s years of hard work.”

She clasps her hands together, her smile brightening up his day. "You’re a good friend, Levi." And then she puts a hand on his shoulder. 

He can feel something light in his heart, almost fluttering. Their eyes lock into each other, and then she lets go, the fluttery feeling gone in a second. 

“Wanna hang out tonight?”

“I have to work on this.” Hange pats the envelope. “My advisor’s sending me to a conference so I have to create the research poster.”

“How about tomorrow?”

“Levi...” Her tone is hesitant and reprimanding at the same time, which is rare for someone vibrant and carefree like her. 

He realizes he sounds like a desperate jerk and mentally slaps himself. “Sorry, I shouldn’t push you.”

She looks sideways, checking if there are people around. When the coast is clear, she tells him, “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe, you should, uhm, go see other people.” 

He doesn’t get it at first. “Like a psychiatrist?”

“No, I didn’t mean that…”

  
Then it finally clicks in his brain. “Why? You want me to fuck someone else?” 

There’s the slightest flinch from her when he says that. “No, that’s not it. It’s just that… I don’t want you to keep your hopes up. I mean, I respect you, but I’m really just emotionally unavailable right now. And you’re a nice guy, Levi. An attractive one, too. You just have to flaunt those dashing eyes.” 

“Shut up, my eyes look like I’ve been drugged in broad daylight.”

“Well, if that were the case, the daylight would have made you taller.” She puts her hands in the pockets of her lab coat, the envelope lodged in between her arm and hip. “Anyway, I'll be out of town this week. Have to present the preliminary data to other scientists. Plenty of time for you to have lots of… fun.”

There was a slight twitch in her mouth when she said the last word, as if she didn't want to suggest it but had no other choice.

“Okay, when you get back, just let me know if you want,” Levi swallows. “...some company.”

“I will. I appreciate that.”

He leaves Hange standing in the corridor, stealing one last glance of her sighing to herself.

* * *

Tapping his foot while waiting has only made him more anxious than ever. He's in the bank, looking down at his old leather shoes which he has polished just for this moment. His hair is also slicked back in a suave manner—Erwin has lent him the pomade he’s using. In addition to that, he's wearing a nice black coat and slacks, all his business permits and financials tucked inside a folder. Formality doesn't suit him. But this is how deals are made. Levi doesn’t like it one bit, but he knows he has to work his way up the system if he wants to secure a loan in order to keep his tea shop running.

The senior banker calls out to him and they exchange a brief handshake, even though they’ve already met before. Levi supposes the other person doesn’t remember. Darius Zackley is a huge beefy man. He's also a greedy old geezer who doesn't really care about helping out small businesses but only seeks to profit from the loans. When he invites Levi to come into his office, Zackley asks him to take out all the records for him to review. 

Levi doesn’t miss the expression on Zackley’s face when he sees the papers that have been informally put together. He tried to make the documents as pristine and organized as possible, but a person who has no accounting experience in the past can only do so much with the formatting of his financial statements. Once or twice, the banker has wrinkled his nose, judgmental as he already looks. 

At this point, Levi’s apprehension has already shot through the roof. Not even wringing his hands could calm him down as Zackley runs through his documents, flipping through each page and scrutinizing every single detail as if aching to see a single mistake. Levi's heart seems to be pulsating hard when the director clears his throat. 

“Well, I have reviewed through your files, and…” Zackley pauses, allowing Levi to hold his breath. “I’ve noticed that your credit score is bad. There’s a history of delayed payments and that’s something our bank cannot overlook.”

He's already prepared himself for the worst, but he's not backing down so quickly. “Yeah, that’s why I’m asking for a second loan—”

The banker immediately interjects. “I’m afraid it’s not as simple as that, Mister…” There’s a long pause as the banker skims through the paperwork to remember his client's name.

“Ackerman.” Levi’s nails are digging right into his palms. 

“Right. Mr. Ackerman. Bottomline is, we can’t give you another loan. Your business cash flow is restricted, simply saying. We would need some collateral in the first place, but seeing your bank statements, it will be too risky. Perhaps you can extend your line of credit with your original bank?”

“I’ve tried. They said my business hasn’t satisfied all requirements.”

Even if they do grant him a loan, he’s aware that the high lending rates will be the death of him. He needs to make profit enough to pay back the principal and the interest. 

“Maybe you can try again after six months. Otherwise,” Zackley slides the folder back to Levi, “I suggest you look for alternative funding.”

* * *

It's another slow day, the intervals of the orders coming are long enough to make his movements sluggish. A customer has complained that the tables are old (“But they're fucking clean!” mutters Levi) and that some of the screws on the chairs are loose (“Did it break? No? Okay, shut the fuck up.”)—but the silver lining is that his tea still tastes remarkably good and that’s all that matters. He’s tending to the cash register when a familiar voice comes up to him.

“Hi, you know Hange, don't you? Levi, right?” The person pauses as if waiting for a confirmation. “She mentioned you to me. My name’s Moblit. I help her out in her research.”

Levi recognizes him as the guy from the lab the other day. Now that he has taken a good look at him, he can tell that this person is more refined than he is, more educated, and obviously more gifted with the height.

Hange must have probably told this guy about him. Levi hopes she didn’t divulge a lot about what they do together. Or, maybe Moblit must have put two and two together after seeing him outside the lab the day he and Hange had an argument. Either way, Levi knows he cannot underestimate him. This guy’s a scientist, after all.

“I suppose you didn’t come here just to drink some tea.”

Moblit shifts his weight to his other foot, not expecting Levi to get straight to the point. “No, you’re right. I’m really concerned about Hange, and I can tell she’s distracted.”

Levi scowls, as if Moblit knows who’s to blame. “What are you talking about? You’re the one who’s with her at the lab all the time.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like we’re doing anything hot and steamy there,” he says, almost implying that he's aware of their relationship. “All she does is wait for the plasma to ionize from the sterilization chamber while I monitor the numbers. And I usually have to be the one to make sure she doesn't blow up the entire campus."

"Cool, thanks for doing humanity a service."

Moblit's shoulders droop down as he sighs deeply and Levi is just dumbfounded. The taller guy continues, "In her eyes, I'm just a bodyguard following her around. But you—you think you can be something else to her, don't you? Maybe something even more.”

Levi lets the silence register for a while. His brain is trying to process the looming thought that this guy—who’s better in a lot of ways—is jealous of him. 

“Look, I’m not trying to compete.”

“Well, you don’t have a choice.” Moblit tells him, lowering his voice, almost a threat on its own. “You may be the guy who gets in between her legs every now and then, but I’ve known Hange far longer than you have. She’s not the type to fall for anyone, and she’s definitely not meant to be played around by someone like you.”

“Who says I’m only playing with her?”

Moblit opens his mouth to say something but eventually decides to avoid the question. “I just don’t want her getting hurt. She’s special to me just like that, even if she doesn’t realize it. That’s all.”

He turns around and leaves, having nothing more to say. 

The dreaded feeling keeps on haunting him. As much as Levi wants to, he can’t bring himself to hate this guy who genuinely cares for Hange. He just can’t. Not when he himself can't even take care of Hange with the way things are right now. At the same time, Moblit thinks lowly of him, so he doesn't know what to make of that. After all, Levi doesn’t know what to make of himself, either.

* * *

For some reason, he’s still cold under the sheets even when he's already down to his boxers. It’s only been a few days since she left but Levi keeps on thinking about her. He doesn’t like it one bit. The entire feeling is like a fever spreading throughout his body, churning his emotions inside out. 

His phone rings once again in the middle of the night, and eyes half-open, he picks it up, not expecting her to call at all.

“Booty call for one?”

“If you can pay for my flight, sure.” He hears her chuckling on the other end of the receiver. “Aren’t you supposed to be resting, Four-Eyes?”

“My presentation at the forum is two days from now. I’ve got some time to relax. What about you?”

“I just had a shitty time at the bank the other day.” He recounts the events of his week but opts out of the recollection of Moblit at his tea shop. He doesn’t feel like telling her about that.

“I’m sorry to hear that. I’m sure you’ll find the right funding for your shop,” Hange sympathizes. “If it makes you feel better, I also had a long day of talking to old men of science. Would you believe that they asked me to define atmospheric pressure? It’s already on the poster! I might as well be speaking to Galileo.” He hears her kicking off her shoes. “Networking sucks.”

“Says the woman who never stops yapping.”

“You like my pretty loud mouth.”

“Hmmm. Maybe I do.”

“Ohhhh…” She purrs, as if she has caught him in some heinous act. Her voice is low and seductive. “What would you do with me if I were there?”

Levi’s mind goes blank. He can’t believe she’s doing this, that they’re doing this. Most of all, he can’t believe that he’s actually into it. His hand finds it way under the fabric of his boxers, the other hand pressing the phone tightly against his ear. “I’d fuck that pretty mouth of yours.”

There’s a slight rustling of fabric in the background, and he’s keen on thinking that she’s undressing herself. “Keep going. I’m only in my lace undies right now.”

He'd love to see that, he really would. But he respects Hange enough and trading nudes was something they agreed to be off the table. He wraps his hand around his length. “I’d take those off with my teeth and touch you in places you can’t reach.”

Her staggered breathing keeps him company for a while. “You know what I’d do to you?” She keeps flirting. “I’d strip you naked and ride you all night while I play with myself. And then I’ll moan your name out loud while I make you cum. You like that, don't you?”

He starts stroking himself. “You’re driving me crazy.”

“Mmhmm. I love it when you're squirming inside me. When you kiss me hard like you're gasping for air. I also love it when you make me come with your fingers and your tongue.” She gives a low moan, and Levi has to gulp some air to keep himself from making a sound. 

He feels hot, the heat pooling around between his legs, but he doesn't stop touching himself. “Hange, shit, I want you…”

“Ohhh, I know you do. I want to lick every part of you—your neck, your jaw, your shoulders, down to your chest and stomach...” Her laugh is cunning, almost teasing. She’s making more sounds and that's how he knows that she's also playing with herself. “Moan for me, will you?” She commands him.

He follows her instruction, already pumping hard and fast. Hange doesn't stop telling him more obscenities, her imagination as high as the sky. And all Levi can do is pretend that she’s there right beside him, doing all the dirty things she’s been coming up with. Hange continues talking, “You look so amazing when you’re naked in front of me, Levi. I can imagine you touching yourself right now.” 

“Fuck, Hange…” His entire body seizes up from the overwhelming sensation. He eventually shoots his load into his stomach, stars forming in his eyes. He takes a few tissues from his bedside table and starts wiping his hand off. He'll have to take another shower before going to bed, but it's worth the hassle. 

Her normal voice is back to normal, laughter echoing through the receiver once again. “Ahh, that was my first time doing that! Guess I’ll never see phone calls with you the same way ever again.”

“Probably.” He feels the same thing goes for him. “Now thanks to you, I have to clean up the mess you’ve caused.”

“You’re welcome.”

He can imagine her grinning on the other end. “Go get some sleep. You have a long day ahead of you.”

“Aye, Captain,” she teases him one last time. “I’ll see you soon, Levi. Try not to dream about me.”

“I’ll try. Later, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas (and Happy New Year), y'all! And of course, happy birthday to Levi Ackerman, who is a gift to us all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Emotionally unavailable?” Erwin grunts as he lifts the barbell. “That’s just a pathetic excuse to say they just want the thrill—”
> 
> “But not the commitment?”
> 
> “Exactly.”

The blonde squad is inviting him again to go skydiving with them but he says he’ll pass this time, claiming he needs to stock up on supplies for his tea shop. The offer of him becoming a skydiving instructor is still on the table, says Erwin. Levi just doesn’t have the time nor the motivation to take it yet. Especially not when Nanaba shared to him the photos that Petra had sent last time. 

There were photos of Petra laughing and smiling as Oluo took selfies of them in different cities and countries, looking smug and proud to be able to afford such travels. If he could give himself any consolation, her husband looked like he had been gaining weight, the ticks on the sides of his mouth more evident than before. Then again, Petra chose Oluo, not him, so he’s still on the losing end. The photos were all of their travels together as a married couple, and Levi had to fight the sickness bubbling in his stomach. 

“They look good together, don’t you think?” Nanaba asked him last time before they headed to the plane for takeoff.

“Yeah, like donkey and rabbit.” 

She slapped his back. “Don’t say that —if anything, Oluo was trying to imitate your habits and style.”

He rolled his eyes, wishing that Nanaba never reminded him of that. They turned their heads above just in time to duck down and watch a skydiver crash into a ditch.

The tea shop is currently in need of renovations, based on what the majority of his remaining customers have been telling him. Levi doesn’t know how to break it to them that the bank declined his request for another business loan. Shit just happens one after another. And so his mind wanders back to Hange who’s probably back in town at this point. He texted her good luck on the day of her presentation and ended up being apprehensive about it right after. (‘Good luck?’ Is that what he was supposed to say? What about ‘Break a leg?’ Was he even supposed to wish his fuck buddy good luck in the first place? It was frighteningly maddening.) 

Nevertheless, Levi felt butterflies in his stomach when she replied with “Thanks!” 

Moblit’s words have been ringing in his ears the entire week, and he knows that the guy is partially right — he’s only a distraction to Hange, just someone she goes to when she needs to cool off from work. Because of that, Levi’s been trying hard to restrain himself from reaching out to her, knowing that she has a busy schedule and has a lot of things to attend to. He’s still hoping that she’ll hit him up one of these days, though. 

There’s a loud bang from the door and Levi looks up excitedly, half-expecting her to walk in, only to be disappointed when a bearded guy with glasses comes up to him. 

“Hi there, I’m Zeke, owner of Marley’s Coffee. We’re technically neighbors!”

_ What is it with random people striking up a conversation while he’s at work, anyway?  _ Trying to hide his dismay, he stands up to reach for the bearded guy’s hand across the counter. “Levi.” 

“Well, you do put the term ‘small business owner’ in a new light,” Zeke scoffs, having put a lot of emphasis on the word ‘small.’ 

Levi lets the comment slide. It’s only been five minutes and he has already taken a disliking on this guy. He also notices the bunch of flyers in his other hand, and he already has an inkling of why Zeke would want to befriend him. 

“I hope you don’t mind me promoting some of my specials,” the cafe owner gestures to the small corkboard in the corner of the tea shop. He’s scrutinizing the tea shop in a haughty manner, judging the plain gray walls and the old furniture in the place. “We’re not competing against each other, are we?”

He raises an eyebrow. “No, not at all.” 

The blabbering mouth of the bearded man doesn’t stop. “We also have some tea. Nothing as exquisite as your tea leaves, but it’s acceptable.” Zeke hands him a flyer of Marley’s Coffee, showcasing the variety of his menu. “You should go out, you know, take a peek at my cafe. We’ve got 2-for-1 specials this week — freebies and discounts abound! Just come bring a friend.”

“I’ll think about it once I find one.”

The statement makes Zeke scratch his beard. “I take it you’re not popular with the ladies.”

A scowl appears on Levi’s face. “I’m popular… in some way.” 

Zeke gives him a scruffy laugh before heading over to the tables where some of the customers are, telling them about his cafe specials and tacking one of the papers to the corkboard. If anything, Zeke looks like a desperate salesman giving out the flyers to random people he meets in public. That, and he’s winning. He leaves right after giving a mocking salute to the tea shop owner. Levi cracks his knuckles behind the counter. 

The drastic decline of his customers the next day has really got him all the more suspicious. His regular customers haven’t shown up at all, even when Levi knows that they’re usually at the tea shop at this certain hour. It’s not possible that they just vanished into thin air, is it? There’s no way they were forced to switch loyalties when they’ve been patrons of his shop for a long, long time. But Levi is still inclined to give Zeke the benefit of a doubt. Maybe it’s not the bearded guy’s fault, he thinks. Maybe the competition is just in his mind. 

He believes otherwise when finally takes the time to check it out and sees that the cafe is popping. Customers are lining up outside the door, all excited to try out the specials that Zeke has been babbling about. Levi isn’t liking this one bit. Recognizing some of the students who usually study at his shop has made him hot-headed all the more as they lined up for Marley’s Coffee. He can’t blame them, really. They all look apologetic and try to avert their gazes when they recognize him. 

Except for the nice blonde boy who greets him, "Oh, hey."

"Isn't that the tea shop owner?" The girl holding a potato whispers. 

Her tall friend whacks her at the back of her head, ushering her to be quiet. “Shut up and eat your potato, Sasha. He’s obviously not interested in ordering something.”

“What, why not? Jean, go give him a coupon, too.”

Unfortunately, Levi may be short, but his hearing isn't. So he grunts in response. Maybe his tea shop is no longer good enough for them.

The kids seem to know what he's thinking. 

“We just wanna try out the coffee specials,” Armin calls out to him, holding the perforated coupons from the flyer. The rest of the students all nod at Levi in fear, as if they've been caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar. The other boy, Connie, is now biting his fingernails. Armin continues, “The cafe owner said he’ll give us a huge discount if we buy as a group.” 

That explains the massive migration and the crowd flocking for coffee in the middle of the day. Finally, Levi arrives at a conclusion: Zeke is stealing his customers; there’s no doubt about it. From outside, he can see that bearded monkey instructing his several assistants in their standard uniforms. The interior is bustling, its white and yellow walls ready to scream all its hipster and trendy vibes.

He’s still outside the place when he spots a familiar person sitting by the window. 

It's Hange. 

And she's talking to a guy seated right across her.

The first thing that comes to his mind is that she’s on a date. The other person’s back is turned towards him, but if he can guess, it’s that Moblit. She looks clearly engrossed in conversation, nodding and laughing every once in a while, until she gazes outside the window and makes contact with his eyes.

That split-second glance is enough.

Out of a sudden, Zeke comes bursting out of the cafe. “Levi! There you are. I was hoping you’d drop by — ”

Levi tears the flyer into pieces and crumples them together before tossing the entire thing straight into the trash can. 

* * *

“You gotta be careful with women like that.”

He’s working out with Erwin at the gym, having assisted him an hour ago in training and conducting emergency procedures for novice skydivers. Earlier that afternoon, Levi did a demonstration dive for some of the students taking their Accelerated Free Fall classes, as per Erwin’s request. The moment he landed after doing a spinning backflip 12,500 feet from the clouds, all of them were struck with awe.

Levi pauses before doing another rep of leg presses. “What do you mean?”

“Emotionally unavailable?” Erwin grunts as he lifts the barbell. “That’s just a pathetic excuse to say they just want the thrill —”

“But not the commitment?”

“Exactly.” Erwin puts down the barbell with a tremendous clang. “Then again, you never know what’s going on in their minds.” He twirls his finger around his ear and Levi catches the drift.

“I don't even know what’s going on in my mind.”

But he knows his friend is right; women are hard to figure out. People are, in general. They’re pretty much like a maze, and once you decide to enter their world, you’ll only find yourself getting lost. 

Erwin continues adding weights as he speaks. “Also, there’s a reason why the entire thing is called ‘friends with benefits.’ It’s all fun and games until somebody falls for the other. And then that’s when it ends.”

Levi knows he’s not supposed to catch feelings for her. “So should I just enjoy it while I can? While it lasts?”

His friend's thoughts are now distracted. 

They’re still doing another set of reps until a familiar person enters the gym. Levi recognizes it as Marie, the girl his friend has been pining for. Erwin’s eyes trail her as she heads for the treadmill, his face full of longing. 

Levi immediately whacks him on the head with a towel to get him to focus. 

The sound echoes throughout the room.

“If only Nile didn’t get to her first…” Erwin mutters.

“Speaking of competitions," Levi raises his voice to bring Erwin back to their original topic, “There’s this guy who says I’m just a distraction to her.”

“Ah, the usual jealous rival,” Erwin chuckles, “It happens.” He picks up his water bottle on the floor and takes a long drink.

Levi exhales sharply, his shoulders drooping in defeat. “I don't know anymore, Erwin. I want to win her over, and it feels like there’s a chance, but I don’t know how.”

“Well, then, we gotta go do something about that.”

“So… what do you propose?”

He wishes he had kept his mouth shut. 

Erwin’s plans are usually fool-proof and one step ahead of everything else, but his idea this time around is completely ridiculous. His tall blond friend apparently has invited the ladies from the skydiving center — Nifa, Lynne, and Nanaba (“Don't tell Mike about this!”) — to Levi's apartment. They barge right into his place the very next night, bottles of booze clinking in their arms. 

“Hello, Levi!” Nifa cheerfully waves her hand while holding a huge bucket of pretzels and popcorn. “We’re only doing this as a favor, just so you know.”

The three girls settle themselves on the couch munching on their snacks while Erwin pours them the drinks. Levi still doesn’t know where this is heading to, but he trusts Erwin — well, sort of. He doesn’t really have a choice but to let his plan unfold. They’re having a good time just catching up with each other and talking about life in general when Nanaba accidentally spills her beer on Nifa who yanks Nanaba’s hair in retaliation before accidentally hitting Lynne. The girls burst into laughter, but nobody seems to be backing down as they progress from shouts and slaps to pinching and pushing. Soon enough, the commotion has turned into a rumble. 

He’s about to stay away from the squabble when Lynne grabs him by the sleeve. “Levi, whose side are you on?”

“Mine, of course!”

“What are you talking about? He’s on my side!”

“I swear if you take their side, I’m telling Mike…”

Nifa and Nanaba are tugging him by the arm in opposite directions while Lynne is yanking his neck from behind. They’re fighting over him like he’s a piece of prized meat.

“Oi, stop touching me.” Levi’s body is ready to split apart. He’s surrounded by a bunch of idiots. “How the fuck is this going to help me at all?”

The amusement from Erwin’s face is evident as he watches them, like he's been waiting for this to happen. Needless to say, Erwin is very, very entertained by this squabble. He’s tapping his foot as if waiting for a perfect opportunity when he faces Levi and stretches out his open palm. “Give me your phone.”

“What the fuck? Why?” Levi’s still trying to shrug off the three women around him and has no intention of handing it off to his friend.

Erwin grabs it anyway off the coffee table and snaps a ridiculous photo of them, all hands on Levi like he’s their possession. The girls are now bickering at each other on the couch with their shortest friend in the middle of it, completely not impressed. He keeps pushing them off but they only cling on to him harder than before. He knows well enough by now not to put the three women in one room next time. 

He doesn't see their tall guy friend typing on his phone, his huge eyebrows knitted in concentration as he hits the backspace and thinks hard once again before punching the keypad. Levi only remembers his presence when a boisterous laughter rings throughout the room — “Yup, this is it.” It’s Erwin, smug and proud of his achievement, a stupid grin plastered on his face.

Now Levi is ultimately suspicious and knows his friend is definitely up to something. “Oi, Erwin, what the fuck did you do?”

“Nothing.”

Regardless, Levi snatches back his phone from Erwin, jumping several times to reach it, and after looking through the  _ Sent _ items, he feels like crawling into a hole in the ground. Erwin has composed a message with an outrageous photo of him and the ladies bearing the caption, ‘ _ I could use some help here. _ ’

The worst part is: the text has already been sent to Hange. Somebody can kill him now.

The photo looks like something that would appear on the cover of a  _ Playboy _ magazine —i t’s compelling, almost seductive, and enough to send the point across. It’s also enough to make Levi want to throw up, both out of embarrassment and disgust.

“Jesus. She’s not gonna fall for it.”

Erwin flashes his winning smile. “You never know, Levi, you never know.”

At this point, the women in the background have tackled each other into the floor. The two men are now forced to separate the three when Nanaba falls with a loud thud, popcorn flying all around.

After the hullabaloo has died down, they commence a round of drinking games with Lynne proposing  _ Never Have I Ever _ . An empty bottle has already littered his floor, much to Levi's disgust, and Erwin is now opening the next one. The girls start with their most embarrassing revelations, giggling and chuckling (“No way! You did not!”), and when it’s his turn, all that Levi says is, “Never have I ever wanted a night to end ever so badly.”

“Oh, Levi, your night is only about to begin,” smirks Nanaba as she downs a shot of tequila.

He doesn't know how to object to her statement.

The game continues for two or three rounds, everyone laughing hard and in high spirits except for Levi who's ready to shoo them all away. Half an hour later, there’s a loud knocking on his apartment door, and when he opens it, he immediately freezes. 

Hange’s right outside.

She’s still wearing her lab coat and her eye goggles on top of her glasses, which means she left her lab just to get there. Her fists are clenched tight on both sides, and her hair is as wild as ever. To add to that, she has a frightening expression on her face as if she’s ready to shred anything — or anyone — into pieces. 

His first instinct is to smoothen out his hair and readjust his lopsided shirt.

Meanwhile, the three other women are strangling each other in the background only for Nifa to come running up to him, arms flailing behind her. 

“Levi, help!” Clinging tightly to his shirt, she blurts out, “They think I’ve never done a threesome before!”

His eyes immediately shoot up to Hange’s surprised face. “Hange, that’s not — ”

His words are drowned when a huge cushion hits him on the back of the head. Lynn calls out from a distance, "You little slut!" 

Nobody knows who she’s referring to.

Faking a smile, Hange tilts her neck to the side. “Look at you, I am  _ so _ proud.” Her tone is laced with a lot of sarcasm enough to shut down the skies. “Never expected you to be a ladies’ man. Three-in-one, huh? Thanks for inviting me over.”

“I didn’t —”

“Oh, what?” She raises an eyebrow, arms akimbo. “You’d rather I just watch from afar? Didn’t know that’s your kink.”

Levi opens his mouth then clamps it shut. He’s losing this battle. 

There’s two claps and some throat-clearing from Erwin who is right behind him. Finally, he announces with a booming voice: “Alright, that’s it, girls, we gotta scram.” 

The huge guy brushes past the two of them with the girls following right behind him, straightening themselves up as Hange eyes them suspiciously.

“Nothing happened, by the way,” Nifa giggles.

“He’s all yours," Lynne tells her. "We don’t want him.”

“...And I’m already taken.” Nanaba winks at her, popcorn still stuck to her hair. “Levi’s just a good friend.”

Hange is stammering, unsure how to respond to all of those. She finally realizes that she has taken the bait. A strong hand clasps her shoulder.

“I know it’s hard to tell, but he’s a good guy deep down inside,” says Erwin. “Are you just going to let him get away?”

“Huh?”

Erwin’s eyes are blue and serious. “My bad. That was a strange thing to ask.” He shuts the door behind him, leaving Levi and Hange all by themselves. 

Her face is warped with confusion and frustration, and it only frightens Levi even more, makes him more hesitant on how to go about this. There’s no boiling teapot right now, but he has a feeling that if he tried to explain himself to Hange, it’s going to be the same thing as getting scalded by the arm once more. The silence in the air is still and the living room is now filled with mess. 

He is torn between ‘Are you alright?’ and ‘I’m sorry.’ His mind is still processing everything, so out of fluster, he ends up with, “Are you sorry?”

“Me? Hell no! Why would I be? I’m not even jealous!” Hange blurts out in complete denial.

“Then who was that person last time?”

“Where, at the cafe?” She hunches her eyebrows in concentration before remembering. “Oh, that’s Moblit! He’s also a PhD student who helps me validate my results. In turn, I have to mentor him with his dissertation topic proposals.”

“Hard to believe.” He's still not buying her story.

She crosses her arms. “Moblit and I are not together, if that’s what you’re thinking. He’s just my lab assistant. Do you really think I’d be sleeping with two men at the same time?”

He’s taken aback, trying to avert her heated stare. “No, of course not, why the fuck would I, shit, I’m not even — ”

“Shut up." Hange grabs his wrist which startles him. "Just take me to bed.”

The command makes him glad that she has finally asked. He doesn’t waste any time and closes the gap between them, his mouth tasting of liquor and Hange wanting every bit of him. The kiss is rough and longing, tongues hungry and earnest. Levi's hands find their way at her buttocks, pressing firmly, and Hange gets the cue. She hops right on time for him to catch her by the thighs, wrapping her legs around his torso with one hand supporting her back. His arms strain for the bit until he's able to balance both of their weights with ease while he's standing up. Levi then carries her to his bedroom as he moves the trash on the floor to the side with his feet. Hange's eyes flutter open for a bit when he rests her against the wall so he can kick the bedroom door close. 

“I missed you,” he breathes, mouth slightly parted after the long kiss.

“I missed you too,” Hange responds, her arms still around him.

“Thought you would have gone looking for me as soon as you came back.”

She gives him an apologetic look. “I would, really! But something came up with my research. They said the model is interesting but the analysis is still incomplete. The data has to be verified once again with a different statistical test and I — ”

He lays her down on the mattress and puts a finger on her lips. “It doesn't matter. You don’t have to tell me anymore.”

The acknowledgment in her eyes seems to bore into his soul. Gently, he slides off her glasses and deposits them on his bedside table. He starts undressing her so slowly, trying to take all his time with her and making the moment last for as long as possible. Hange relents to his touches, allowing Levi to remove everything for her. He spends every moment kissing her bare skin, his lips skittering over every inch of her body. She's about to return the favor when Levi stops her, backs away, and takes off his clothes on his own, making her watch him from the bed. He doesn't dare break their eye contact as she licks her lips. Hange is fascinated as always and for some reason, he doesn't feel like a spectacle at all. He feels vulnerable, very much human.

Levi would have asked her to shower with him, but they’re both eager for each other, craving to be touched and held. After discarding their clothes on the floor, they roll together in bed, her familiar chuckle echoing within his walls. They make out for a while, their naked bodies entangling with each other. Finally, Hange stretches on her back, spreading herself wide open for him. He pushes in a finger first in between her legs, testing her. Hange gasps for a bit. She’s already wet, he can tell, so he inserts another finger, alternating between two and three, and Hange bites her lower lip as he starts pumping his fingers inside her. He rubs the sensitive part with his thumb, and she can’t help herself but moan. 

“Oh, you’re so good at this. Oh...”

Impressed with himself, he continues trailing kisses from her chest down to her stomach, palms flat on her thighs. He lets his teeth scrape lightly against her skin. In response, Hange spreads her legs wider, giving him more access, and Levi knows what she wants him to do. After kissing her thighs, he starts eating her out, feeling her heels nudge the back of his shoulders. His tongue flicking, lapping has sent her body arching in pleasure, her knees hiking up as he continues. Levi glances up to see her head writhing against his pillow. Hange reaches out for the back of his head and pushes him in, his nose massaging her soft folds. Her juices trickle out when he strokes her with his thumb. If he could melt there and then, he would. 

When he’s satisfied seeing her aroused, he maneuvers her to her side, and Hange follows, her one hand under the pillow. He grasps her by the waist and she opens her legs up so he can enter her from behind. There’s the tightness that he’s been expecting once he pushes in. He’s never done this before, but it’s been playing in his mind for a while and Hange’s open-minded enough to try it out. She tenses up for a bit and Levi takes the time to ease her into it. He bites into her shoulder as he goes for it once again and this time he’s able to get deeper by another inch or two. A muffled groan escapes them both. His hand massages her hip, directing her movements and stimulating them both. Hange locks her calves against his thighs, limbs sandy. They’re moving together like a wave, the tides coming in and sweeping them both off their feet. He applies more pressure and he can feel Hange contract around him. She yanks her head back in pleasure and Levi takes the chance to kiss the side of her neck from that angle. 

Hange finally sits up and directs him, pushing him to sit up against the bed frame. This time he lets her take control. She straddles his lap and rides him when he puts his thumb inside her mouth, leaving her no choice but to suck it. The sensation makes him delirious. He pulls out his thumb and gently brushes her lips, coating it with her saliva. Hange keeps controlling the pace of their movements, slipping him in and out of her. He’s gasping heavily, trying to mimic her rhythm as she rocks her hips hard against him.

“Shit, don’t stop… keep going…” Levi breathes, helpless and slack-jawed. His hands are on her back moving down to feel the curve of her ass. He can no longer stop himself from wanting all of this. The vulnerability has made him ache for her all the more, has him lost in passion.

Her legs bracketing his thighs, she grinds more into him and it sends him crazy, their bodies pressed together like they’ve always belonged to each other. They both ride it out, the build-up of the pleasure and the satisfaction that comes after it. He looks up and Hange is blocking the light. All he can see is her, all he can breathe in and touch and feel at the moment.

“Levi, you… you…” she gasps, her palms still on his chest, “You’re amazing.”

Basking in the afterglow, she dips her head and kisses him passionately, mouth panting and arms dangling on his firm shoulders. He can feel her heart racing fast and then settling down into the calm. Running her hand through his undercut, she pushes him towards her, allowing Levi to rest his mouth on the space between her collarbones. Hange presses her lips to his forehead, and for one moment, all is right in the world. They stay like that for a while.

* * *

He’s up in the skies with the blonde squad. However, they’re all sitting down strapped to the seats, not wanting to jump. The engine turbines are staggering through the irregular winds in the air, which is completely unexpected because they checked the weather conditions before taking off. They should have taken the gust spread into consideration as well. Now they’re forced to wait for the surface winds to die down, but it doesn’t seem to be giving any signs of stability. The plane is roaring as if it’s fighting through an unseen battle, the floor trembling and rattling his gut repeatedly. Even Erwin’s hand is shaking as he tries to control the steering wheel in front of him. Levi’s looking through the windows but the skies have become dark and ominous, unable to make the landing field visible. The turbulence is enough to throw the plane out of control. 

This is how he knows nothing’s alright. 

A gray cloud passes them by, smoke enveloping all of them inside the plane. He coughs it out, his lungs wheezing as if he’s suffocating, eyes bleary and his vision fogged. And then when he turns around, everyone’s gone. He blinks repeatedly to try to clear his eyesight. Even his parachute and harness are missing—since when did he forget to strap his gear before taking off? The impending danger is nearing and the signal light blinks red. A warning sign conveying danger ahead. He calls for the names of his friends but nobody responds. Even though he’s no stranger to loneliness, Levi has never been this scared. 

The plane lurches again, and he tumbles straight out of the open door right after bumping his head against the railing.  _ This is how it ends _ , he tells himself as the wind and rain strike his face repeatedly like bullets without mercy. The last thing he remembers is him falling straight into the ground, nothing catching him, until his mind finally goes blank. 

“Levi!”

He bolts right up. He’s in bed, sweating in the sheets gathered around him, no signs of injuries or pain in his body. The clock reads quarter past 1. “Shit. Shit.” 

His fingers comb through his hair, nails scraping at his scalp. The blunt pain aches through his temples to remind him of where he is.

He turns his neck to the side and sees Hange staring at him, her face painted with worry. She’s already halfway buttoning up her shirt, pants still on the floor. 

“Are you alright?”

“It's fine…" He closes his eyes briefly. "Just nightmares.”

“You were screaming people’s names… like something bad happened to them… and then you called for me.” 

A beat passes by; Hange’s waiting for an explanation. 

“Don’t worry about it.” 

The dream’s already fading from his memory and Levi has no intention of recollecting. 

He must have been whimpering in his sleep; not that he cares about his bad habit, but the fact that she has witnessed it deeply aggravates him.

There’s a moment of hesitation from her as she bites her lip as if thinking hard. Levi doesn’t expect her to stay—it's not part of their arrangement, anyway. That's why he's surprised when she climbs back to the bed instead, putting her hands on both his bare shoulders and gently laying his head down on the pillow. 

“Rest,” is all she says, draping the blanket up to his chest. She then follows by removing her glasses and dipping into the pillow right beside him. Hange folds an arm and rests her head on it, carefully watching him compose himself.

He faces her sideways. “I thought you don’t like this, this kind of intimacy.”

“What, cuddles?" She chuckles lightly at the fact that Levi can't even bring himself to say the word. "This is a one-time exception for a friend in need.” Hange hooks her leg on his torso to inch herself closer.

Levi can feel his heart rate spiking up again. “You don’t have to.”

“I know, but I want to,” she says, pressing her forehead against his. “I’ll be here.”

He waits for a moment for his heart to settle down once again. The seconds feel like years. Eventually, Hange closes her eyes only for Levi to brush a fallen eyelash from her cheek. There’s something in the way the mind works, how he never expected himself to fall for someone so interesting, so breathtaking, so kind. If the world has to end just for him to experience these few seconds of bliss, then so be it. It’s in these little moments where he thinks the world can stop and that will be enough. He doesn’t remember drifting off. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Created a new Tumblr (djmarinizelablog) + Twitter (djmarinizela) just to post screencaps of the new episode every week + scream about how amazing AOT is---ehrm, follow me?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Uh, Levi.” Hange puts pressure on his arm. “I think we’re getting close?”
> 
> Levi agrees. “I think so too. I never thought you and I would ever—”
> 
> “No, I meant, close… close to the ground.”
> 
> He looks down. “Oh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you need a song to listen to while reading this fic, I recommend "Celebration" by RADWIMPS. I think it fits the entire vibe, tbh!

The smell of something burning wakes him up at 7 in the morning. Sprinting for the kitchen (and almost tripping himself in his boxers), he’s astonished to find Hange there, sizzling some bacon on a pan. His mouth falls open. Hange never stays until the morning and she certainly doesn’t make breakfast. It’s almost too good to be true. The morning light seems to make her features more drawn out like an enigma to his eyes—the way her hair is still loose on her shoulders only pulls him to want this memory of her stuck in his mind forever. A flashback reminds him of the events last night, the last of it with Levi tracing the outline of her nose as they both fell asleep. He’s still trying to remember the feeling when she stops flipping the pan and realizes he’s already awake.

“Oh, hey, I was about to leave, but your uncle came in and forced me to make some breakfast.” Hange sips a cup of tea while waiting for the bacon to cook, her face grim. “Said he’d skin me alive if I didn't.” 

“Where’s—”

“Yo, Levi.” 

He turns around to find his answer and frowns. “I told you to stop smoking in my apartment. And why the fuck are you here, Kenny?”

“Checking to see if you got any taller.” The older man tips Levi’s chin up, scrutinizing his nephew’s height, or rather, the lack of it. “Looks like you didn’t.” 

Levi slaps Kenny’s hand away. “If you need cash for your booze, well tough luck, I’m out of both.” 

There’s a heated stare between the two men that gets disrupted when Hange clears her throat. “Well, now that everyone’s up and running, I should probably go.” 

She’s walking sideways towards the exit when Kenny speaks. 

“If you bolt outside that door, I’m sending death threats in your mail.” 

Hange stops the moment he says that, teeth chattering like she’s seen a serial killer. Kenny dumps the ashes of his cigarette right on the coffee table, much to Levi’s annoyance. This isn’t how he imagined his morning to be. 

Noting her scared face, Levi consoles her, “He’s joking. You shouldn’t believe him.” 

Nevertheless, Hange walks back sideways and reluctantly plops herself down on the couch.

“She knows I’m telling the truth,” Kenny says as he plays with his Swiss knife, flipping the blade in and out of the handle. Hange cowers in her seat away from him. 

To Levi’s relief, Hange’s already fully-dressed, but he doesn’t like it one bit when Kenny casually steals glances from her. Putting on the rest of his clothes, he heads back to the kitchen to make scrambled eggs and toast for all of them since she burned the bacon out of distress. 

After a short round of interrogating Hange about who she is and what she does (with Levi yelling “Don’t you fucking touch her, Kenny!” every five minutes), Kenny stretches back on the couch, his fedora concealing his eyes. He hikes his feet up on the table, shoes still on. “Yo, Levi, be a gentleman, will you? Treat her out.”

Hange intervenes before Levi can utter a response. “Oh no, I’m fine, we’re just—”

“I insist,” Kenny urges. “My nephew here doesn’t seem much, but I’d rather you take him. Order him around. Treat him like a slave. It’s my peace offering for forcing you to stay.”

Levi’s helping put some eggs and toast on their plates, his murderous grip on the fork ready to stab his uncle for his insults. When he hands them their meals, he mutters loud enough for Kenny to hear, “I’m not that bad as you think I am.”

“Then her eyes must be that blind to think you’re good enough. Since when did you become boyfriend-material?”

Hange interjects again. “Oh, we’re not really, uhm—we’re not officially together.”

“Still dating?”

“Uhm, no.” She's uncomfortable, staring down at the plate of food on her lap. 

If Kenny could shut up for five seconds, now would be the perfect time to do so. Unfortunately, he doesn't take the cue.

“Shit, what kind of relationship are you playing at?” Kenny asks as he shoves some scrambled eggs into his bread before taking a bite.

Hange and Levi look at each other first before breaking the silence.

She shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly. “Booty call? Casual hookup? Friends with benefits?” 

“Fuck buddies?” Levi arches his eyebrow, his tone deadpan. “Ever heard of that, Kenny?”

A piece of toast falls out of Kenny’s mouth. “Huh. Sending you my thoughts and prayers.”

Levi’s uncle doesn’t leave them in peace after an hour of him forcing both of them to explain. It’s the most animated breakfast scene among a guy, his hookup friend, and his wayward uncle. Kenny’s completely baffled by the no-strings-attached relationship (“I should get one for myself!” he says). The concept of no-labels is really something he’s not expecting Levi to be gunning for. For what it’s worth, Kenny has tried to be a mentor figure to his nephew, despite their estranged relationship. 

“You better get your shit together,” he tells Levi once they're done with their meal. “What would your mother say if she sees you falling apart? Kuchel would throw a fit.”

“Well, she’d put the blame on you for becoming a lousy uncle.”

There's a click of a tongue from the taller man. “Where do you think you’d be right now if I didn’t take you under my wing?” Kenny spats. “You’re pathetic and stupid. You can’t even keep a relationship going or your cute little tea shop running—”

“Uh, excuse me.” Hange raises her hand and the two men glance at her.

Kenny flashes his Swiss knife once again. “Got something to say?"

Hange takes a deep breath and prepares herself for the worst, but Levi steps in front of her, hand shielding her away from his uncle. Kenny will have to get to him first before he can touch her.

“If you take one move towards her, Kenny, I swear I'll—”

The older man grins at his nephew. "Why are you so protective of her? Are you compensating or something? You can't be that bad in bed, can you?”

Levi grits his teeth and flips Kenny his middle finger.

Thankfully, Hange finally gets the courage to talk. “Uhm, Levi’s not what you say he is. Pathetic? Not even close, maybe only when he's cleaning. But he's certainly not stupid.” She lets out a nervous, shaky laugh. She then puts her hands behind her back and shrugs her shoulders. “I mean, who am I? Just some girl your nephew sleeps with once in a while. But Levi’s doing as much as he can, and I think that accounts for something. He’s trying to keep everything afloat and it’s probably going to take some time, but I know he can do it, with or without much help from you.” 

Levi’s mouth falls open once again. 

Kenny is very amused. "Huh. Seems like he's messing up with your brain."

“I don’t—”

"Oh, and I'll gladly let him do that,” Hange backs him up. “My mind usually doesn't think of anything apart from my research. Levi gives me the break that I need once in a while. He's fun to be with, anyway. He doesn’t think that I’m a lunatic who keeps blowing up labs for experiments. Well, maybe he does, but at least he tries not to show it. So I don't know what you're yapping about him not being good enough. You might want to assess yourself for that."

"I like her," Kenny chuckles, eyeing his nephew. "She's a feisty one."

Hange rolls her eyes and continues, "Levi doesn’t need you leaching from him from time to time. He's doing fine on his own. He's capable. And I myself can attest to this: Levi’s a good guy, probably more than you or I will ever be. So we can leave it at that." Then she turns to Levi, “Do you wanna head out for a while?” 

He checks the clock once he remembers how to breathe. “Sure, I don’t open ‘til 10.” 

“Great! Well, it was nice meeting you,” she nods to Kenny. They’re about to leave the apartment when Hange remembers something and stops. Swiveling her foot, she faces the older man one more time and gives him her final statement: “Oh, and for your information, sex with Levi is the best I've ever had. 10/10. No regrets.”

And then she slams the door. 

He walks her to the parking lot, still processing the very fact that Hange has just stood up to his uncle. Nobody in their right mind would have done that, but he's thankful that Hange's mind is on a different level. That's pretty much the same thing as signing a death wish and that's what makes her all the more amazing. It takes awhile for him to be able to speak and when he does, all he can say is, “Thank you for that, by the way.”

Hange nudges playfully him in the rib. “Did what I had to.” 

“I owe you one for that," he says.

She dismisses it with a hand. "It's nothing."

The morning silence is calm, almost comforting, especially after that entire ordeal with Kenny. It’s that particular moment when all he wants to do is kiss her right in the parking lot and confess to her like a stupid gap-toothed high school kid. But perhaps now’s not the time for that. 

They’ve already reached her car and Hange is feeling her pockets for her key when he takes his chance. 

"This isn't because Kenny asked me to," he starts, "But I've been thinking… will you let me take you out one of these days?”

Hange's brown, brown eyes are wide open in surprise and Levi wants to get lost in those forever.

“Like on a date?” Her voice is reluctant. “Levi, I’m not sure…”

“I know we already talked about this,” he tells her. “But you seem upset with your dissertation—”

“I’m not upset, I’m just nervous for my panel. It's an entirely different ballgame when you're presenting your life's work to scientists you've always looked up to. Anything could go wrong.” She finally finds what she’s looking for and is about to climb in her car when he speaks again.

“I’d figured you need to cool off. But not with a hookup. Just some good company with a friend.” His gray eyes are calm and sincere, almost pleading, and then he quickly catches the flashing grin of Kenny from the window of his apartment. His uncle’s giving him two thumbs up. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Levi’s exasperated at this point.

Hange follows the direction of his scowl. From afar, the two of them simultaneously flip their middle fingers at Kenny before going back to their conversation. There's only one way to stop the old man's nagging, only one way for both of their hearts to be at peace. 

She bites her lip and wistfully looks away for a moment before responding. “Okay, so what do you have in mind?”

* * *

The clear blue sky is perfect; there are no gusty winds that could be detrimental, neither hint of rain nor dark clouds looming—a good day for skydiving. It’s the first thing he points out to her after having picked her up from her place. Hange was hesitant to go at first, scared that Levi might have thought of candlelight dinners and fancy cocktail attire, none of those she was a fan of. But she finally agreed after he told her of his plan, even though she had no idea what a boogie was. Hange had to ask Moblit to take over for her at the lab for a day. When Levi asked her to wear something comfortable, Hange had already planned her outfit ahead of time. 

He's waiting in his car when she comes out of her apartment wearing a sweater, tight leggings, and sneakers. 

"Think this should do just fine?" She gestures to herself, not accustomed to wearing something other than her lab attire.

"Absolutely." He hands her a paper bag with bagels and a hot cup of tea. 

They drive off to the outskirts of the city where the skydiving center is, the field large enough to fly a plane and for skydivers to land into. There's the silence at first, just the sound of them munching through their snacks. Levi eventually asks her if she wants to listen to some music, but Hange shakes her head and tells him about this podcast that she's been dying to hear since yesterday. He hooks up her phone to his stereo and allows her to play it from there. 

The podcast starts with Djel Sannes, a government reporter, stating how the world seems to be indecisive about the current condition of the natural environment. He then introduces a minister named Pastor Nick who has been invited as a guest for today's episode. Sannes begins the interview with what the pastor thinks about global warming.

"As I was saying, climate change isn't real," the voice starts. From what Levi can tell, it's an old man in his 50s, reverent by the way of his tone and language. "The changes that we are seeing in our atmosphere and environment are part of the natural cycle. There is also no general consensus among the scientists who have created these so-called models. We need to rely on our faith that the world will continue to exist for the next generation without any of these impending disasters occurring within the next 50 years or so."

"So what would your message be to our listeners?" The reporter asks him. 

"Simple: believe that every part of creation has a purpose in life. Trust in our faith. Science and religion go together, after all."

Levi hears her snort right at the traffic light. 

"He's a scientist and a pastor?"

"Hard to believe, huh?" she mutters. "Jeez, I hate this guy so much. He's contradicting everything that my research is trying to say! The government must have paid him tons to spit out such lies."

Pastor Nick apparently works for the government and is responsible for communicating major science discoveries to the media. Apparently, he's against the idea that the world is rapidly deteriorating due to man-made disasters and that climate change is a ridiculous hoax made up by scientists to scare people into thinking that the world will end soon. Which is definitely a blatant load of rubbish.

"But your work is backed by experiment and years and years of evidence," Levi defends her. 

"And this pastor is backed by the government! Plus the unreliable Internet." Hange slumps on the passenger's seat and looks out on the window. "Guess who's winning? 'Cause I'm sure it's certainly not me."

He can sense the frustration in her voice and the only thing he wants in the world right now is for her to feel alright. So he tries to lighten up the situation. "You'll do fine. It sounds like these non-believers are just as bad as anti-vaxxers and flat-earthers."

“Oh, mind you, they’re worse than the scumbags you’ve already heard of.”

The reporter continues with the interview, acknowledging the fact that the government is doing everything it can to keep the masses calm and safe. The politicians will do their best in mitigating the situation, according to Sannes. The people should stop worrying themselves about the nonsense that scientists have been saying recently. Levi doesn't miss the eye roll from Hange as well as the eventual murmur—"OK, boomer."

"You should look for these guys, and then we can send them death threats until they finally speak the truth," he suggests to her.

"Nah. We should just go straight for torture or corner them off a cliff. Tell them liars go straight to hell."

He’s slightly amused that the irony backfires on him. "Great, it's an ambush."

Chuckling, Hange finally stops the podcast and switches the stereo to some jazz music. Levi glances once in a while to see the irritation on her face disappear bit by bit. They're exiting the highway when he speaks again.

"By the way, when we get there, you'll probably meet some people at the center."

She glances back at him. "You didn't tell me you have your own gang."

He explains to her that he and some friends gather once in a while to do some skydiving together in their free time. They’re all licensed instructors but with the busyness of his tea shop, he can only afford to treat their past time as a hobby. 

His story is interrupted when she squeals in amazement when she sees how big the entire place is. Heading toward the hangar, Levi proceeds to tell her everything she needs to know more about the blonde squad. He hopes that they won’t torment her while she’s with him. 

Hange tries to recite the facts once again while they're walking away from the parking lot, “Okay, so, Erwin has a thing for this girl Marie, and Mike has a big nose, while Nanaba looks like a blonde version of you, but nicer—”

“Didn’t know you have a thing for tall girls, Levi.”

They both spin around to see the blonde squad. They’re all wearing their skydiving gear with huge smiles on their faces. Erwin comes up to them with Mike and Nanaba right behind him. 

“Erwin, we’ve met before. Hange, right?” He offers a handshake. “Levi’s told us about you.” 

She recognizes his face from the other night at Levi’s apartment. “Nice to meet you, Erwin,” she says, taking his hand. “Are you going to jump with us, too?”

“Oh, I can’t, you guys would all be dead if I do.” 

Seeing the confusion on her face, Levi steps in and whispers to her, “Erwin’s flying us. The plane doesn’t have autopilot buttons.” 

The realization then clicks in her brain. “I shouldn’t be making bad pilot jokes then, or else we’ll never land.”

Mike tries to stifle his laughter. “She's funny.”

Lynne and Nifa, the two other girls from that helter-skelter before, spot Levi from afar and wave at him. He pretends he didn’t see them. However, they still head over to where they are much to his dismay. 

“Levi! Guess the plan worked the other night, huh?” Nifa beams at him and winks at Hange. “We were wondering if you could teach us one of your solo stunts later in the air—”

“Can’t. I’m doing tandem today.”

The two other girls aren’t surprised with the rejection. They’re pretty much used to it. What they’re not used to, however, is the fact that Levi is jumping with another person this time around. 

Lynne responds, “Okay, well, hope you don’t cross the beer line then! Better do a hop n’ pop rather than free-fall.” 

“Never, I’m not fucking paying any fines nor a round of drinks.”

"Fines? Hop n' pop? Are you guys dealing with drugs?" Hange looks worried.

Nifa puts a hand on her hip and giggles. “Her first time jumping, I assume? Show the whuffo how it’s done, Levi.”

Hange whispers to him, “Am I supposed to be offended?” 

Needless to say, she’s confused by the skydiver terminologies. Now she knows what it feels like to be bombarded by an array of jargons. But Levi’s kind enough to teach her some of their lingo so that she doesn’t feel lost. She laughs in relief upon learning that skydivers are pretty cliquish, almost cultish, as a community of happy plane bombs. They'll celebrate anytime of any given day from doing boogie parties and drinking after the final load for the day to judging non-skydivers and calling them whuffos.

After he tells the manifest (“It’s the person-in-charge,” he explains) to put him and Hange on a load with the rest of his friends, Erwin leaves the group to take the plane out of the hangar and do the standard pre-flight procedures. Mike and Nanaba have been keeping her company when Levi excuses himself to change into his skydiving suit. He hasn’t really worn it in a while, often choosing to jump in a pair of khakis and plain long-sleeved shirts. When he gets back, Hange has to stifle her gasp. The black skydiving suit fits him a lot, the fabric hugging him in the right places, revealing the muscles underneath his unbelievably toned body. 

“You look constipated,” Levi tells her, eyeing her slacked jaw. “Like you haven’t taken a shit in weeks.”

She gulps. “Actually, I think my dump went down smoothly just now.”

Nanaba breaks into a laugh. “I’m surprised you can handle his humor.”

“Huh? Is it too dry for you?”

The blonde girl scratches the top of her hair. “Let’s just say it’s an acquired taste.”

He helps her put on the harness while he attaches the main rig to himself. The skydiving equipment is rather complicated, and Hange is relieved that she doesn’t have to deal with it. She then straps on the goggles in front of her glasses and tucks out her bangs and ponytail, messy as ever. Levi then proceeds to teach her the diving position and the basic hand signals so they can communicate with each other without speaking. Hange eagerly follows, excited at learning something new for the day. Once he’s set up everything for both of them, they taxi to the runway for takeoff. 

Inside the plane, they’re huddled together with other tandem-skydivers, some of them first time jumpers just like Hange. They’re all talking loudly above the noise, making jokes and trying to lighten each other up. 

“If they catch you masturbating on the plane, is that called hi-jacking?”

“Stop it, that’s disgusting.”

“I’m trying to ease the tension, Levi. Look at her,” Mike points his nose towards Hange. “She’s nervous.”

Hange’s teeth are chattering, like she’s ready to bite her tongue off. Her hands are shaking and fiddling with the straps, trying not to look anyone in the eye. Any minute and she’s going to freak out once she sees how high above the ground they are. 

He goes over to her and starts adjusting the harness, attaching hers to his so that her back is turned towards him when they jump. 

“Remember," he's shouting at her ear from behind so she can hear him over the noise, "when you exit the aircraft, you accelerate to your terminal velocity, which means you’ll—”

“Keep falling at that speed until the parachute gets deployed,” Hange finishes the sentence for him, still looking down at her feet.

“Right.” It has slipped out of his mind that she’s a scientist and probably knows way more of how the physics of skydiving works. “That should give you an idea of how your research will be if you drop the plasma from an extreme altitude.”

“Yeah.”

She’s pretty much sitting on his lap at this point, too close for her own sense of comfort. Needless to say, Hange feels overwhelmed. The signal light goes green and Mike opens the door for them. All the newbies cheer. Erwin can hear the commotion in the cabin, and they all start to laugh until one of the first-timers starts wailing. The veterans just mind their own business; this is nothing new to them, the adrenaline pumping wild in their veins. Besides, the screams of the kids are instantly drowned out by the ear-splitting humming of the plane. The rapid vibrations are enough to send someone to send their wits flying out. 

“It’s time for the jump run,” Levi taps her shoulder. “Think you can do it?”

When she looks down and sees the field tens of thousands of feet below them, Hange immediately backs away, almost falling on Levi who’s right behind her—

“Ohsweetmotherfucker.” 

The height is enough to make her dizzy. 

Mike and Nanaba are the first to jump together like daredevils, yelling “Fandango!” as they try to catch each other in free-fall. Hange cranes her neck to see them kissing in mid-air. The bolder and braver newbies have clambered up to the opening with their guide as well, and after swinging their bodies, they eventually launch themselves into the air one by one. 

“Hey, you’ll be fine.”

She mutters, “Sure,” but her voice betrays her. 

Another pair of skydivers lets go of the railing and Levi can see her mouth trembling as she watches. He seems to understand. “Do you want to just sit in the plane? We can stay here and wait until Erwin lands—”

“No, no. We’ll jump. I trust you,” she says, repeating herself. “I trust you.”

The engine noise roars louder into their ears. She takes a deep breath and shuts her eyes tight.

They crouch near the opening once again, inching carefully one foot forward at a time. Even though she’s in front of him, her hands are grasping Levi’s arms, holding onto him as if for dear life.

_It’s now or never_ , he thinks. 

Finally, Levi tilts himself to the side, taking Hange with him, as they both stumble out into the open sky. 

The stomach-drop feeling arrives as soon as the soles of her shoes can no longer find footing. At first, she starts flailing, her long legs even kicking Levi once by the groin. Hange’s thrashing, trying to claw into the invisible air, helpless and ultimately terrified at the very thought of plummeting straight to the ground.

“I got you, I got you.” He knows she can’t hear him with the wind rushing. So he puts his hand on her arm, and squeezes it gently. 

Once she finally opens her eyes, Hange is trying to comprehend all the sights and sounds, the senses overloading her brain, until she registers that she’s safe with Levi right behind her. She remembers how to breathe, staggered at first, until she’s able to inhale and exhale like she usually does. Finally, she’s able to get into the standard position, arching her body to catch a stable drift. Levi has to move her hair once again to keep it from whipping his face.

They’re falling down tens of thousands of feet from the skies, the clouds surrounding them, resembling wisps of smoke. Below them, the ground is getting larger and larger as if it’s swallowing them whole.

He starts doing a few turns and maneuvers, rotating them around so Hange can see the entire panorama of the city, a 360-degree view of their part of the world.

Time seems to go slower whenever he’s in free-fall. It only lasts nothing more than a minute but this feels like eternity. 

She then puts her arms out like wings, her knees bent behind her. He can’t see her face, but later on he can hear Hange laughing, screaming, “Yahoo!” and that seems to be enough to give him some relief. It feels like defying the gravity that’s pulling them to the ground. But for both of them, it has never been this magnificent before.

Levi checks the altimeter which now reads at 5,000 feet and knows it’s time. He gives her the hand signal and asks, “You ready?”

He doesn’t wait for an answer. He activates the parachute and the sound of the gear releasing it startles her for a bit. She feels a sudden jolt, the tension on the rigs around her pulling, and the next thing, they’re floating like clouds, their speed drastically slowing, the blue-and-white canopy hovering above them. 

“Now I know why you like skydiving,” she tells him. Hange’s looking up at him, like he’s someone amazing, someone precious to her, and for some reason, that’s enough for him to let their feelings fall into place.

There's a small smile on the corner of his mouth, his eyes kind and at peace. Steering the parachute, he points to places she might be familiar with; the lake, the gardens, the campus. Hange nods in acknowledgement; it’s her first time seeing those places from this vantage point. After letting Hange steer for a bit, he then plays with the toggles himself, momentarily dropping them for a few seconds before the parachute catches air once again. 

He takes this time to ponder about his future with Hange. He still can’t put a label on them, but nevertheless, he likes her company a lot. The way the world works is really amazing and if for some reason this is how fate or destiny has intertwined Hange’s life and his together, then by all means he’d let it be. 

“Uh, Levi.” Hange puts pressure on his arm. “I think we’re getting close?”

Levi agrees. “I think so too. I never thought you and I would ever—”

“No, I meant, close… close to the ground.”

He looks down. “Oh.”

They’re only a few feet away from the tallest building in vicinity. 

When Levi gives her the hand signal to lift her legs up, she does as she’s told, trying her best to sustain the position for landing. They’re nearing the ground, almost the same level with the trees around them, and they know the floating is almost done. 

They slide down together as they land into the field. Levi touches the ground first, absorbing the impact with his back, holding Hange tightly in his arms. She’s leaning against him, not wanting to move, and for some reason, Levi prefers them to be like this forever. They’re still panting from the thrill of skydiving when Nanaba pulls her up. “What do you think?”

“That was the longest six minutes of my entire life,” Hange breathes, getting to her feet. “But that was awesome! Levi, you were amazing, you were so—”

“Fuck, Hange!”

"Oh, sorry!”

She has just accidentally elbowed Levi on the face. He falls to the ground upon the sudden blow, covering his nose with his hand. How does this woman keep on injuring every part of his body? It’s still a mystery to him. Quickly getting to his side, Hange rushes to hold him in her arms, her expression filled with worry.

There’s always something endearing about the way Hange expresses her care and Levi has to fight the urge to just stare into her eyes and kiss her out in the open. So instead, he pinches the bridge of his nose, the pain still throbbing. “I’m alright.”

“Thank goodness,” she exhales. “I thought I just killed a skydiver with my bare hands.”

“I think I can handle myself up in the air way more than down here with you.”

“Really now.”

“Next time you should see him do a solo dive,” Nanaba tells her with a smile. “He’s pretty good with the stunts.”

The idea of a next time seems promising for both of them. 

After they’re done gathering the drawn out parachutes from the field, the two of them are left on their own to survey the perimeter. 

A crowd has already gathered on the other side of the open field, booths and stalls set up left and right, with vendors trying to sell skydiving-related merchandise. From where they are, they can see the hangar filled with more people than before, some of them skydivers in different suits. Nanaba and Mike have gone for another round of dives, wanting to try out a different formation. Levi explains to Hange the difference between the wingsuits and the usual freefall attire: the former looks like flying squirrels in the air while the latter are just normal suicidal jerks. Hange giggles at his explanation. In the middle of everything, people are watching as firewood logs are being stacked together for the bonfire, live chattering and good music all around them. 

"So this is a boogie," says Hange as they settle down on a mat by the grass. 

"Just a small one. Gets the skydivers together to see what's new in the community."

There's a round of applause from the crowd when the projector flashes a reel of skydiving footage into a screen. They sit together in silence, Hange intently watching the different skydiving stunts of people she has never met in her entire life. She becomes deeply more interested when a video of Levi appears on the screen, his face stoic and composed as always as he holds onto the railing of the plane door. Upon performing a cool backflip upon his exit, he does a barrel roll in midair. He then lands gracefully after falling 12,500 feet from the skies, skidding into an open field with the perfect swoop. The audience bursts into awe, and so does Hange.

"You didn't tell me you're a skygod. People are just fawning over your talent!”

"It's nothing, really."

She cheerfully ruffles his hair. "Humble as always. If I were you, I'd brag about it all the time, probably even catch a few girls here and there. Then flex your stunts. No wonder you're so good in bed." 

Levi doesn't miss the wink from her. 

"I'm not an asshole."

"I know you aren't." Her hand slides off his shoulder after she squeezes it. "You may act like a tough guy, but you do have a heart."

They watch other skydivers swoop down and glide both in the actual sky and in the footage. Beyond them, the sun has already set, their shadows getting larger and larger behind them. They can hear the plane landing on the other side of the field, having done its last load for the day. 

For some reason, Hange is a fervent listener as much as she is a good speaker. She takes this chance to ask Levi more questions about skydiving, why he got hooked to it, and how he found his friends. The suggestion of her becoming a licensed skydiver doesn’t seem much of a bad idea, either. Levi doesn’t even realize that the sky has become dark until Hange points out the stars already coming out in the nighttime. They stargaze together on the open field. She helps him find Polaris, taking his hand and tracing the constellations together just like that. Levi's too stunned to think of anything else. 

There's a loud chant from the crowd as they count down to the very last second. The pit bursts into flames and the people all cheer around the bonfire, raising their cans of beer up in the air. 

"I admit, this is kinda cool.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “Thanks for bringing me here."

"No, thanks for coming. For giving me a chance."

“Not a problem.” And then Hange leans forward towards him, smiling. She whispers, “So is this the part where you kiss me or what?”

He gives her a small nod and slowly closes the gap between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I've been working alternately on each of my fics (plus several side prompts that people have given me on Tumblr/Twitter), but nevertheless, I'm enjoying what I do a lot. It's really just a matter of setting up a routine after I get home from work and focusing myself to write something... maybe after downing a glass of wine or so. 
> 
> So! Any ideas on what you think will happen in the next chapter?


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